FRANKFURT -- Negotiators from General Motors, Magna International and the German government reached a tentative agreement on Friday that would see Magna take a major stake in G.M.'s European operations, a person briefed on the talks said Friday, according to The New York Times.

Following a marathon meeting on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, officials reconvened in Berlin on Friday and hashed out a deal that included bridge financing of 1.5 billion euros or $2.1 billion that would sustain Opel, the German operations of G.M., through a bankruptcy of the parent company in the United States.

The preliminary agreement came after Fiat boycotted the meeting, saying the financial burden being demanded by the German government of the Italian automaker was too great.