German automotive supplier Continental AG is interested in a proposal from Syrian-owned MAG group to buy a French tyre factory in Clairoix that is due to be closed.

"We will send a response in the course of this week," said a spokesman for Continental, which is controlled by rival group Scheffler and is struggling with debt.

MAG, a Dubai-based industrial and property group owned by Syrian millionaire Moafaq al-Gaddah, offered this month to buy the plant, vice-chairman strategy and finance Fawaz Sabri told Reuters in an interview on June 17.

MAG has been holding talks with Continental since May about the plant, which has been at the centre of an industrial dispute, he said.

Production could start in 2010 if due diligence began in July and a contract was signed this year.-Reuters