Fiat Says It Won't Attend Mtg With German Government Friday
29 Mai 2009 - 9:55AM
Dow Jones News
Fiat SpA (F.MI) said Friday that it won't attend a tentative
meeting with German authorities Friday, but reiterated its interest
in General Motors Corp.'s (GM) Adam Opel GmbH unit.
In a statement to the Italian stock exchange, Fiat Chief
Executive Sergio Marchionne said the Italian carmaker 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."
In the statement, Marchionne said that 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.
Marchionne also said that Fiat was not able to perform proper
due diligence on Opel activities as it was unable to have full
access to the financial records of Opel, and therefore unable to
make a proper merger proposal that would be fair to General Motors
as the seller and to Fiat.
Citing a "last round of requests," which would require Fiat to
fund Opel on an emergency basis while the German government
determines the exact timing and conditions of the interim
financing, Marchionne said that it was "unreasonable to expect Fiat
to provide funds."
-By Sabrina Cohen, Dow Jones Newswires, +39 02 58219906;
sabrina.cohen@dowjones.com