Daimler says no talks with Fiat after report on industrial bid

Daimler AG said today that it isn’t in talks with Fiat SpA about taking over the Italian carmaker’s industrial operations, after la Repubblica reported that the German company made a 9 billion-euro ($12 billion) pre-offer.

“There are no talks on this with Fiat,” Daimler spokesman Florian Martens said in a telephone interview. “In our industry at this time, everyone is talking with everyone and so are we.”

Negotiations are stalled as Fiat wants 10.5 billion euros for Fiat Industrial SpA, the truck and tractor unit being spun off from Fiat SpA, la Repubblica reported, without saying where it got the information. A deal could still be reached after the division’s listing in Milan next year, the newspaper said.

Daimler, headed by Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche, is the world’s largest maker of heavy trucks and the No. 2 in luxury vehicles. To focus on carmaking, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is spinning off industrial operations, including the Iveco truckmaking unit and CNH Global NV tractor division. Fiat Industrial may have a market value of 13 billion euros, according to an estimate by Jochen Gehrke, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG.

“Such a deal would be difficult to pull off because of antitrust concerns on the truck side,” said Georg Stuerzer, a Munich-based analyst with UniCredit, who recommends buying Daimler shares. “I don’t see how a combination with Iveco would work from a competition point of view, especially in Europe.”

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It’s normal for Fiat to look at “opportunities to enhance operational synergies and access to new markets through potential cooperation agreements,” the Italian company said in a statement. One aim of the spinoff of industrial businesses is “significant improvement in strategic flexibility.”

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