Berlin - The bitter power struggle for the giant German auto supplier Continental AG ended in the early hours of Thursday morning on friendly terms with the billionairess at the heart of the bid emerging triumphant from the more-than four-week long takeover battle.

Under the deal, the 66-year-old Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler's family-owned ball-bearing company has secured a 49.99-per-cent stake in Continental, one of the world's top tyre makers and brake systems manufacturer, after raising its offer for the company to 75 euros (110.61 dollars) and agreeing to a minority stake. Continental shares were trading at 73.95 euros Thursday.

With her carefully coiffed blonde hair and elegant smart dress, opera-loving Schaeffler cuts a rather glamorous figure in the rough-and-tumble world of Germany's car parts and ball-bearings business.

But the Prague-born billionairess has now successfully pushed through her more than 12 billion-euro bid for a group which is nearly three times as big as her own company to create a new major force in the global auto supplier industry. Continental alone has targeted sales this year of 26.4 billion euros.

Following the agreement between the two companies, Continental chief Manfred Wennemer is to leave the group at the end of the month after fiercely defending his company against the Schaeffler bid.

But a slump in the car industry and an 11-billion euro acquisition last year has helped to drive down Continental's shares, leaving the group exposed to possible takeover attacks.

"Continental is opening a new chapter in its corporate history," the group said in a statement, adding that 60-year-old Wennemer had asked to be released of his duties.

Indeed, with Continental opting to defend itself against its smaller rival's original 69.37-euro-share cash bid the Schaeffler move rapidly turned into one of those rare business events in Germany - a hostile corporate takeover. The bid price was later raised to 70.12 euros.

After announcing last month that it had already built up partly through swap actions almost a 36-per-cent stake in Continental, the Schaeffler bid also sparked a major debate in Germany about the role of investment instruments to acquire corporate stakes.

This followed a similar move to gain control of auto maker Volkswagen AG by luxury sports carmaker Porsche AG.

However, Germany's financial watchdog the BaFin ruled that it had no evidence that Schaeffler had breached disclosure regulations.

As the battle for Continental gained momentum, Schaeffler won key support for its corporate fusion plans from leading figures of Germany's powerful carmakers.

A merger between the two group would be "altogether positive," VW chief Martin Winterkorn said, adding that while Continental was strong on the electronics side, Schaeffler was strong on the mechanical side.

But he warned about the fallout for the industry of a protracted fight among two key suppliers and called for a friendly end to the takeover battle.

As tensions surrounding Schaeffler's bid grew, there were also reports of divisions within Continental over how to proceed in facing up to its rival's offer.

However, the Schaeffler group's takeover bid for Continental is also part of another German business story.

This concerns the major role played by the nation's largely family-run small-to-medium sized companies (the so-called Mittelstand) in Germany's post-World War II emergence as Europe's biggest economy.

Based in the small Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, the Schaeffler Group was founded in 1946. It is not listed on the stock exchange and like many other members of the Mittelstand was not widely known before it revealed its plans for Continental.

After inheriting the company following the death of her husband 12 years ago, Schaeffler now shares ownership with her son, Georg, a US- based lawyer. Forbes magazine estimates their combined wealth at 5.4 billion euros, making them the seventh richest Germans.

Four years ago, a German economics magazine nominated Maria- Elisabeth as family businesswomen of the year.

But Schaeffler, who grew up in Vienna and abandoned her medical studies in 1963 to marry the entrepreneur Georg Schaeffler, has up until recently tended to keep very much in the background of the company her husband helped found with his brother more than 60 years ago.

Instead, she has preferred to leave the limelight to chief executive Juergen Geissinger, who presided over Schaeffler's successful takeover of rival FAG Kugelfischer seven years ago.

The group's latest move also sheds light again on the prominent position that Herzogenaurach occupies on Germany's business map. With a population of just 23,000, the town is also home to leading sports goods-to-fashion groups Puma and Adidas. The Schaeffler group is the town's biggest employer.

However, at about 66,000, Schaeffler's workforce is less than half that of Continental's 150,000 employees with the Hanover-based group having operations in 36 nations .