General Motors Co's board concluded a two-day meeting in Detroit on Wednesday and dispatched the automaker's negotiator on the sale of its Opel unit to Berlin ahead of announcements scheduled for Thursday in Germany, people familiar with the proceedings said.

Separately, the 13-member GM board that took shape when it emerged from bankruptcy in the United States in July also reviewed management and marketing plans for the automaker at its meeting in Detroit, one person briefed on the deliberations said.

As part of that review, GM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young will be leaving the company, the source said.

Meanwhile, John Smith, the GM executive who has headed months of negotiations with the German government and two potential bidders for GM's Opel unit, is on his way to Berlin, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because of the still-private nature of the board talks.

Smith will brief representatives of the German trust supervising Opel and German government officials before news conferences scheduled for later in the day on Thursday in Germany, the sources said.

It was not immediately clear what action the GM board had taken on Opel, but one person close to the deliberations said that the moves appeared to move GM closer to selling a controlling stake in Opel.

A group led by Canadian auto group Magna International has a promise for the financial backing of the German government to take control of Opel.

Brussels-listed RHJ International has a rival bid that GM management has said would be easier to implement.

Young, 47, became CFO in March 2008 under then Chief Executive Rick Wagoner.

(Reporting by Philipp Halstrick in Frankfurt, Christiaan Hetzner and Angelika Gruber in Cologne, Kevin Krolicki and Soyoung Kim in Detroit; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

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