UPDATE: Fiat Waiting For Clear Decision On Opel Aid
29 Mai 2009 - 11:28AM
Dow Jones News
Italian automaker Fiat SpA (F.MI) Friday reiterated its interest
in General Motors Corp.'s (GM) Adam Opel GmbH unit, but signaled
there was nothing more for it to discuss until GM, the German
government and U.S. Treasury had settled their differences.
Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne in a statement to the Italian
Stock Exchange said he wouldn't attend negotiations on Opel in
Berlin Friday.
Marchionne has been shuttling between the U.S. and Europe
constantly for the past few weeks as he tries to stitch together
the automotive operations of Chrysler LLC, Opel and Fiat to form
one of the world's biggest car makers.
Marchionne said Fiat remains "open and committed to continue
discussions with all parties involved" in the Opel deal that share
a view to find "a stable and lasting solution for the industrial
activities of Opel."
Fiat already had offered to contribute its auto business assets
to the merger on a debt-free basis and "thus provide substantial,
and absolutely necessary, equity to the merger," he added.
He said that it was "unreasonable to expect Fiat to provide
funds" for Opel while the German government determines the exact
timing and conditions of interim financing.
Marchionne also said that Fiat was not able to perform proper
due diligence on Opel activities as it was unable to gain full
access to the financial records of Opel and, therefore, was unable
to make a proper merger proposal.
Fiat proposed a plan for Opel that will limit the social costs
of the integration process while delivering "significant synergies"
derived from the sharing of platforms, related components and
power-trains, he said.
Presumably, that means that Fiat will attempt to keep job cuts
to a minimum, a key consideration for the German government, which
faces elections later this year.
Talks in Berlin Wednesday on the provision of state-backed
bridge financing to Opel ended without agreement after GM presented
a new demand for EUR300 million, which the federal government was
unwilling to meet.
Austrian-Canadian Magna International Inc. (MGA) and Fiat are
the two remaining bidders. Magna, seen as the front runner for a
deal, has teamed up with Russian auto maker OAO GAZ Group (GAZA.RS)
and state-controlled OAO Sberbank (SBER.RS).
Germany's federal government and the states of Hesse, North
Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia and Rhineland Palatinate, which are
home to Opel plants, are expected to decide on the bridge financing
for Opel Friday to keep it operating even if GM files for
insolvency.
The interim financing of around EUR1.5 billion, which excludes
the new EUR300 million demand from GM, would be from state-owned
bank KfW Bankengruppe and regional banks of the states with Opel
plants, according to previous statements.
Company Web sites: www.fiatgroup.com; www.opel.com
-By Sabrina Cohen, Dow Jones Newswires, +39 02 58219906; sabrina.cohen@dowjones.com