German cartel office examines GM, Peugeot link-up

DUESSELDORF, Germany, July 4 (Reuters) - The German federal cartel office plans to examine more closely the alliance between General Motors, its German unit Opel, and France's Peugeot in a Phase II review, it said on Wednesday.

The antitrust review would look at the effects of the alliance on car parts suppliers and could take as many as three months to complete, a spokesman said.

He added that a Phase II examination was necessary since the initial one month period was simply not long enough to study the likely effects the link-up would have on a broad number of parts suppliers.

GM and Peugeot said late in February that they hoped the alliance would lead to at least $2 billion in annual savings shared evenly between the two within about five years from joint purchasing, logistics and the joint development and production of vehicles and parts.

On Monday, GM signed a deal to transfer the bulk of its European logistics operations to Peugeot unit Gefco starting next year in the first stage of the strategic partnership.