Germany denies report that RHJ leads race for Opel

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany dismissed a report on Thursday that RHJ International (RHJI.BR) had overtaken Magna (MGa.TO) as the front-runner to take over carmaker Opel, saying the race remained wide open.

Mass-selling daily Bild reported in its Thursday edition that Germany's Economy Ministry now favored RHJ, a Brussels-based investor. The newspaper did not give a source for its report.

"The report is wrong," Jochen Homann, head of the government's Opel Task Force, told Reuters. "A decision has not been taken in favor of one or the other bidder."

On Wednesday, a government spokesman said Germany still thought a deal with Canadian auto parts maker Magna provided a "good foundation" for Opel's future, but that it was ready to consider other buyers if they emerged.

In addition to RHJ International, China's Beijing Automotive has also made a bid for Opel, a European unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors GMGMQ.PK.

Homann added that the 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in bridge financing the German government is supplying to Opel was not linked to one bidder but that future government guarantees would have to be negotiated.

(Reporting by Rene Wagner; Editing by David Holmes)