Germany tells GM to go it alone

Germany has told General Motors it will have to come up with the money to refinance Opel, after the US carmaker cancelled the sale of its European arm. Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle told GM executives that they had to be responsible for restructuring the unit. Germany had previously offered 4.5 bn euros ($6. 7 bn; £4.1 bn) to support Opel and protect German jobs if the company was sold to car parts maker Magna. On cancelling the sale last week, GM said it would still seek state aid. The German minister's comments now raise question marks over whether GM will get it. "I expressed my expectation that General Motors should basically carry out the financing itself," Mr Bruederle said. 'Low blow' GM had been negotiating with Magna and its partner, the Russian bank Sberbank, for months. Last week, it decided to keep hold of Opel, and Vauxhall in the UK, due to what it described as an "improving business environment". At the time, Mr Bruederle called GM's decision to call off the sale as "totally unacceptable", while Christine Lieberknecht, the premier of Thuringia state which hosts an Opel plant, called the decision a "low blow". The US giant's decision to sell its main European business was made after it was forced to announce a group-wide loss of $30.9 bn for 2008. Sales had plummeted in the global recession. However, aided by financial support from the US government and a brief period in US bankruptcy protection in June and July of this year, GM has since managed to turn around its fortunes. Last week the carmaker said its US sales had risen in September for the first time in almost two years.

HP in deal to buy 3 Com for $2.7 bn

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has announced it is to buy network systems maker 3 Com in a deal worth $2.7 bn (£1.6 bn). The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2010 , subject to regulatory approval, the California-based personal computer giant said. It added that the deal will allow the firm to combine servers, storage, networking, management and services. The firm also reported preliminary quarterly profits that beat analysts' expectations, despite a fall in sales. "Solid execution drove exceptional performance for HP this quarter, fuelled by significant growth in China," chief executive Mark Hurd said. Analysts said the acquisition of 3 Com would help the company expand further in the rapidly growing Chinese market. "What HP likes to do is take assets with a good market share in their respective markets, then leverage HP's brand and distribution to really grow the business," said Shannon Cross at Cross Research. "3 Com has about 55 % of revenue from China, which is going to expand HP's reach into that country. That's a positive."

Iberia set for more strike action

Unions representing Spanish airline Iberia's cabin crews have announced a further eight days of strikes unless a pay agreement can be reached. The dates for the proposed strikes are 30 November to 2 December, and 14 December to 18 December. The airline has already been forced to ground hundreds of flights this week due to strike action. Cabin staff are in dispute with the airline's management over plans for a hiring and wage freeze. Cabin crews also staged strikes in October. Most of the affected flights have been short and medium-haul. "We have called for eight more days because there is no will to reach an agreement," the Sitcpla union said in a statement. "Our wages have been frozen since 2005 and, according to the company's viability plan, this will continue until 2011. " Iberia wants to reduce costs to combat falling profit. The company made a loss of 165.4 m euros ($237.2 m; £145.7 m) in the first half of the year.

EU cartel fine for plastics firms

A group of plastics companies has been fined 173 m euros ($260 m; £156 m) by the European Commission for price-fixing and organising a market-sharing cartel. The case centres on information exchanged over heat stabilisers that are used in packaging, credit cards and bottles amongst other items. The companies involved include Akzo, Ciba and Elf Aquitaine. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said companies must learn that "breaking the law does not pay". She added that repeat offenders face stiffer penalties and that "elaborate precautions to cover their tracks did not prevent the Commission from revealing the full extent of their determined efforts to rip-off their customers". Twenty-four businesses that belong to 10 different corporate groups are being punished. The commission says the Swiss firm AC Treuhand provided its premises for monthly meetings to discuss details on prices and customer allocation.

Air India losses more than $1 bn

Troubled national carrier Air India has reported a net loss of 55.5 bn rupees ($1.2 bn; £719 m) for the full-year to the end of March. The loss was due largely to a 12 % drop in revenue, from 152.5 bn rupees to 134.8 bn rupees, as a result of falling passenger numbers. Last month, the Indian government agreed to inject 53 bn rupees into the carrier to help keep it in business. Global airlines are struggling with falling traffic during the downturn. The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has forecast losses of $11 bn across the whole industry for 2009. Air India has been told by the Indian government to cut costs dramatically as a condition of receiving the state aid. This could prove difficult, as hundreds of pilots threatened to strike in September to protest against the airline's plans to cut pay incentives. The strikes were called off after the government intervened.