GM near deal to sell Opel to French carmaker

Frankfurt, Germany

THE French maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars is expected to announce on Monday that it will acquire General Motors' Opel unit, in what amounts to a high-risk bet on the sluggish European market at a moment of acute political uncertainty.

A General Motors official, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the deal, confirmed the sale on Saturday. Earlier, PSA Group, the parent company of Peugeot and Citroen, said that it would hold a joint news conference with GM on Monday morning in Paris. The two companies said last month that they were in talks for PSA to acquire Opel, GM's European unit.

The deal would vault the combined company into second place in Europe behind Volkswagen, which makes the most cars in the region…