Frankfurt - Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne, who met senior Berlin officials on Monday to press his case for a takeover of General Motors Europe, is set to pay a visit Friday to Frankfurt to meet with a key German state premier, a newspaper said Thursday.

Premier Roland Koch runs Hesse, the state where GM has its main plant making Opel-brand cars.

Dirk Metz, a spokesman for Koch, who was visiting Dubai, partly confirmed the report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, saying Koch had been speaking for week to anyone with the potential to be a strategic or financial investor in the GM division.

"Premier Koch has met with Magna, so it's a matter of fairness that he should offer the same to Fiat," said Metz.

"The premier is not publishing his appointments and the details of these talks."

German trade unions have been hostile to the Fiat bid and favoured a bid by Magna, a parts maker with Austrian and Canadian owners. US-based GM is near collapse and is believed willing to hive off its European unit, which makes both Opel and Vauxhall cars. (dpa)