U.S. car parts maker TRW plans hardly any job cuts should Germany's Siemens sell automotive electronics unit VDO to the U.S. company, a German weekly reported on Sunday.

Siemens is currently mulling its options for the future of VDO, but a stock-market listing is its preferred option. It asked interested buyers to submit bids last week, people familiar with the situation have told Reuters.

A stumbling block for any potential buyer is organized labor, however, as unions fear a sale of VDO may result in major job cuts.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported, citing sources familiar with the negotiations, that TRW had tried to assuage those fears by making assurances it would keep VDO's administration and practically cut no jobs.

TRW, majority owned by Blackstone, and German car parts maker Continental were expected to submit bids that would exceed 10 billion euros ($13.8 billion).

The Siemens supervisory board is due to discuss the future of VDO at its next meeting scheduled for July 25.

VDO had annual sales of around 10 billion euros in its 2005/2006 fiscal year and a staff of 53,000.

Germany