Toronto, Aug 22 - General Motors Friday postponed its decision on whether Canada's Magna International was the winning bidder for its Opel brand.

Magna, which is the world's third largest part maker, and the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation (called Sberbank), had jointly submitted a bid in July to acquire a 55 percent stake in the troubled General Motors' Opel.

Brussels-based financial investor RHJ International is the rival bidder. Two other bidders - Italy's Fiat and China's Beijing Automotive - opted out of the fray.

Opel is on the block as the ailing General Motors, which has received $50 billion bailout from US and Canadian governments, undertakes massive restructuring plans.

At their meeting Friday, GM's board of directors failed to come to a decision whether to accept the winning bid by the Canadian auto company and the Russian bank.

'The GM Board of Directors met today to discuss options for Opel. No decision was taken,'' a statement by the auto giant said after the meeting.

The German government has given its financial backing for the joint bid by Magna and the Russian bank.