General Motors on Thursday said it could finance the restructuring of Opel without state aid, as its chief executive said the European subsidiary had enough cash to pay back a German government bridge loan.

Fritz Henderson, GM chief executive, said on Thursday that Opel could afford to pay back the remaining €900m ($1.3bn) of the €1.5bn bridge loan, which Berlin had extended to Opel in May to keep it afloat after GM entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.