From Hemmings.com

This Day in Automotive History

3/7/1929:

General Motors buys Opel

The U.S. magazine, Automotive Industries 30 March 1929 announced that General Motors had purchased Opel. It was stated that on 20 March 1928, James D. Mooney, President of the General Motors Export Company, speaking before the Export Managers’ Club of New York referred in his speech to that of “the buidling of an industrial and commercial empire”. The next year General Motors Corporation acquired all of the shares in Vauxhall Motors Limited that it did not already own. However, alongside this was an announcement made on 18 March 1929 by Alfred P. Sloan Jnr., President of General Motors Corporation, at Wiesbaden, Germany, that General Motors Corporation had formed an association with Adam Opel Company in Russelsheim, Germany, a substantial interest in that company being taken at a cost of approximately U.S.$30 million. The financial world had already guessed that something was afoot by October 1928, and finally when Messrs. Sloan and Mooney left for Germany by ship and the rumours seemed to have been confirmed. In fact, and General Motors World Number 8 issue of 1951 confirms, that the Adam Opel was experiencing a decline in its domestic market as it lacked funds for modern machinery and equipment, and had no adequate export facilites either. General Motors were apprently to be wishing to expand into those export amrkets where German-made cars sold, just as the decision was made to increase exports of Vauxhalls from 1930 to the British Empire markets, though southern Africa was one Empire area that Opel met success in and yet Vauxhalls did not. General Motors had realised that so far as exports were concerned, the larger North American car was losing out to smaller, cheaper, more economical cars favoured by the European manufacturers. General Motors therefore needed a Continental base for its North American and British products, and of course General Motors had assembly plants all over Europe as well as subsidiary sales companies. Thus, during the latter part of 1928, Geheimrat Wilhelm von Opel met and talked to General Motors executives and the many advantages of taking over an existing factory persuaded General Motors to buy-out Opel on a majority basis. From then on, following just behind the tooling for the new Vauxhall Models launched August 1930, and the |Bedford Trucks, April 1931, tooling for new Opels was underway by July 1930, production starting of cars in February 1931, and later in 1931, Opel’s answer to the Befords, the “Blitz” or “Lightning” trucks. From then on, Vauxhall and Opel would seem, certainly until 1939, to be running in tandenm with each other. This aspect will be considered below in greater detail.

The exact price was put at $28 million. On the 24 January 1929, the Opel family holdings were placed into a limited liability company. Shares were issued totalling 60,000 with a par value of 1000 marks each, capitalizing the company at over $12 million. This was a holding company for the Opel works, and public offering of stock was made, but the Opel family retained control. It was then surmised that General Motors paid $28 million for 76% of the stock which represented the Opel family holdings, or more than twice the par value of the company! 18 March it was stated that the new board of directors would consist of five Americans and three Germans and that then then head of the firm, Fritz Opel would be dispalced by an American. However, Sloan went on to say that Opels would be run as an independent organization by the then present management committee, with General Motors engineering, manufacturing, financing amd managerial co-operation. However, this time General Motors had acquired a majority stake in a company five times that of Vauxhall Motors Limited!

From my notes!