Berlin, Sep 10 (DPA) Giant US carmaker General Motors Co. (GM) plans to sell off a majority stake in its European offshoot Opel to a consortium lead by the Canadian-Austrian auto parts group Magna International, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Thursday.

Merkel's announcement at a press conference in Berlin came after the company held a two-day board meeting in Detroit and follows months of uncertainty surrounding the fate of Opel, which has about half of its 50,000 European workforce in Germany.

The German government has backed the Magna-led bid for a majority stake in Opel and said it would provide 4.5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in state-backed guarantees to help Magna restructure the GM European subsidiary.

Welcoming the GM decision, Merkel said it represented 'a new beginning for Opel', but she conceded it will not be an easy way for Opel.

The Magna consortium also includes the state-owned Russian Sberbank and Russian carmaker Gaz.

The GM board's decision comes at a critical time for Merkel, who is facing an election in less than three weeks. Opel is currently being propped up by a 1.5-billion-euro ($2.2-billion) bridging loan from Berlin.

Negotiations over the Opel sale are expected to continue. Key details of the deal have still not been unveiled, including possible job cuts at the company's European plants as well as the exact size of the shareholdings in what has been called the New Opel.

Throughout the already protracted negotiations, GM indicated that it wanted to retain at least a minority stake in Opel, which is based in the west German town of Russelsheim.