Fiat boss to discuss Opel bid with German ministers

Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne is to have talks with top German ministers in Berlin Monday amid reports of a bid for Opel after taking a stake in US auto company Chrysler, the government said Saturday.
Marchionne will be meeting Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, their departments said.
Fiat earlier denied it was already in negotiations to buy Opel but said it would look into a deal with the firm, a German-based unit of struggling US auto giant General Motors which has said it will cede its majority stake.
"Now we have to concentrate on Opel: it's our ideal partner," Marchionne told La Stampa newspaper Friday after returning from the United States, where he negotiated a global alliance with Chrysler announced on Thursday.
Under that deal, Fiat will take a 20-percent equity stake in the new Chrysler following its bankruptcy. It can increase this to a 51-percent controlling stake from 2013 as long as Chrysler pays back massive state loans.
According to IG Metall trade union official Armin Schild, a member of Opel's supervisory board, Fiat has already prepared an offer for Opel, of less than 750 million euros (990 million dollars).