General Motors could finalize the sale of its German auto unit Opel as early as this week, the U.S. automaker’s CEO said Tuesday.

Fritz Henderson, visiting China for the first time since GM was restructured last summer also handled the sale of Hummer to China’s  Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp. This move is still pending, though the deal is official, because it still needs the green light from the Chinese government.

Henderson also informed that  ale of GM’s Opel and Vauxhall units to Canadian autoparts supplier Magna International Inc will go ahead. This is despite Despite labour union objections over possible job losses.

General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson

Magna along with Russia’s state-owned Sberbank agreed to buy a 65 percent stake in Opel from General Motors Co. last month. GM is retaining a 35 percent stake. As we see things at this point, this is also quite official. And fast too, like Henderson said: “It’s quite possible that you’ll see documents signed this week,”

GM, which spent 40 days in bankruptcy protection during the summer and has received about $50 billion in U.S. government aid, also plans to sell its Saab brand and scrap Pontiac and Saturn as it tries to streamline its operations.

New Opel (Opel plus Vauxhall, minus Saab),is presently controlled by a trustee, with a controlling board made up of representatives from GM, employees and the German Government; the company was subject to a bidding process.

More on this as the story unfolds. General Motors is a big company and it’s bankruptcy is a symptom of the crisis but is also becoming a reason for it’s continuity.