TIMELINE-GM seeks state aid to fund Opel's revamp plan

Feb 9 (Reuters) - General Motors [GM.UL] unit Opel has asked Germany for 1.5 billion euros ($2.05 billion) in state aid to help fund a restructuring plan, including an 11 billion euro investment and sweeping job cuts. [ID:nLDE6180N9]

Following is a timeline of recent events at Opel, which was founded in 1863 and bought by GM in 1929:

April 28, 2009 - Canadian-Austrian firm Magna International Inc outlines offer for Opel.

May 20 - GM Europe says three bids have been made. Fiat confirms its bid and a source says private equity investor RHJ International has made an offer.

May 30 - Germany agrees on a deal with Magna, GM and the U.S. government.

July 20 - GM receives binding bids from Magna, RHJ and China's BAIC.

July 23 - GM agrees to continue detailed talks with both Magna and RHJ.

July 24 - BAIC says it has dropped out of the running.

Aug 19 - Germany says it could provide 4.5 billion euros in state aid for Opel without help from other European governments if GM chooses Magna as the buyer.

Sept 10 - GM agrees to sell a 55 percent stake in Opel to a group led by Magna.

Sept 14 - Magna says it will cut about 10,500 Opel jobs in Europe, mostly in Germany.

Oct 26 - Workers at Opel's Spanish plant accept Magna's industrial plan for the Figueruelas plant in northern Spain, clearing one of the last obstacles to the deal.

Nov 3 - Opel's labour force agrees to 265 million euros in wage cuts over five years if GM goes ahead with the sale. Hours later, GM announces plans to keep Opel rather than sell it.

Nov 6 - GM says Opel chief Carl-Peter Forster is leaving and later names Nick Reilly, head of international operations, as interim Opel head, a position that is later made permanent.

Nov 16 - German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle says previous German pledges to provide state aid to Opel no longer apply after GM says it can restructure Opel alone.

Nov 23 - Opel boss Reilly says it will cost 3.3 billion euros ($4.9 billion) to rehabilitate Opel.

Nov 25 - Reilly presents a reorganisation plan to Opel labour leaders. He says GM intends to cut around 9,000 jobs at Opel across Europe, with 50 to 60 percent of the cuts coming in Germany, which hosts half of Opel's 50,000 staff. Those figures are adjusted over the following two weeks to become 8,300 cuts overall, with 4,000 in Germany.

Dec. 29 - Opel says new registrations rose to their highest level in four years in 2009, when government-backed scrapping incentives bolstered a floundering European auto industry.

Jan. 12, 2010 - Reilly says Opel and Vauxhall sales could fall by up to 5 percent in 2010.

Jan. 21 - GM says it will close its Antwerp plant in in 2010, shedding 2,600 workers, and predicted job and capacity cuts would affect all of its European sites.

Jan. 26 - Belgian unions sue Opel over the Antwerp closure, claiming breach of contract.

Jan. 29 - Opel workers join a general march in Brussels to protest companies' job-cutting plans.

Feb. 1 - Labour leaders and management at Opel clash during a meeting to discuss the carmaker's restructuring plans.

Feb. 9 - Opel asks Germany for 1.5 billion euros ($2.05 billion) in state aid. (Compiled by Michael Shields and Maria Sheahan; additional writing by David Cutler and Carl Bagh;)