FIAT NEARS SALE OF MARELLI TO CALSONIC
Carmaker, KKR negotiate valuation of more than €5.5b
FIAT Chrysler Automobiles NV is nearing a deal to sell its high-tech carparts unit, Magneti Marelli, to Calsonic Kansei after the Japanese firm raised its bid, according to people with knowledge of the talks.
Calsonic, a car-parts maker owned by private equity firm KKR & Co, and Fiat had reached a tentative agreement on price and might announce an accord as soon as this month, said the people. Fiat and KKR are negotiating a valuation of more than €5.5 billion (RM26.29 billion) including debt, they said.
The transaction could exclude small parts of Marelli’s business, such as the unit that made plastic dashboards and bumpers, said the people.
Fiat was seeking bids that value all of Marelli at €6 billion or more, said people familiar with the matter last month. No final decisions had been made on the price or the timing of a deal, and talks could still fall apart if the two sides fail to agree on the remaining details, said the people.
Japanese companies have announced more than US$200 billion (RM830 billion) of acquisitions this year, a 60 per cent increase from the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The deal volume has reached the highest annual tally in more than a decade, the data showed.
A combination of the two autoparts makers would create a business with more than US$17 billion in annual revenue and about 65,000 workers from Tokyo to Milan.
The sale of Marelli would become one of the first major milestones for Fiat’s new chief executive officer Mike Manley, who took over days before Marchionne died.