Fiat News

[Ralph DeLauretis <ralphone@xxxxxxx>]

Here is some news about the Fiat Volvo Merger.
- ----
TURIN, Italy (Reuters) - 

Italian automaker Fiat said Wednesday it had in fact made a concrete
offer of over $13 billion to acquire the entire Swedish company Volvo
which last week said it was selling its car division to U.S. automaker
Ford. Fiat issued a statement corresponding to comments by Volvo chief
executive Leif Johansson reported in Swedish newspaper Svenska
Dagbladet Wednesday. Johansson said Fiat had not made a concrete bid of
$13 billion for the whole group, as some had said. "We must announce a
concrete bid to the market. It did not go so far with Fiat, but on the
other hand we did have an understanding during that time about what
levels they could be thinking about," he said. The Financial Times
Tuesday, quoting Italian bankers, said Fiat had offered $13 billion for
the Volvo group, double the amount (50 billion crowns or $6.35 billion)
Ford was proposing to pay for Volvo's car division. Fiat's statement
Wednesday said: "The Fiat group presented a friendly, concrete and
detailed offer to acquire the entire Swedish group." A Fiat spokesman,
in reply to a specific query about the amount of  the offer, said that
this "was above that indicated by the Financial Times." "Given that this
was a friendly offer made to the Volvo board, we do not believe it
opportune to reveal the amount without the counter-party's consent," he
added. Fiat had said last week after Volvo announced it was selling its
car unit to Ford that the Turin-based group had been in talks aimed at
acquiring to entire Swedish company and not just its car division.
Volvo's announcement put an end to weeks of speculation about a link-up
between the two. 

- --
If Fiat can offer Volvo 13 BILLION what's a couple of Million to
reestablish Alfa in the US???

Ralph DeLauretis

------------------------------