Fiat intends to acquire the Canadian government's 1,7% stake in Chrysler. This was officially announced yesterday by Sergio Marchionne, CEO of the Turin-based and American manufacturers, meeting Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in Ottawa.
"We have never thought that the Canadian government should be in the car business - the minister specified in a note - and at the same time we must aim to create value for Canadian taxpayers, so we will consider what will be proposed to us taking into account stop these two principles. The return for taxpayers should not be measured only in monetary terms but also in terms of investments and jobs".
Lingotto does not have a purchase option on the share of the Detroit company held by the Ottawa government, so "everything depends on their discretion", specified Marchionne. Meanwhile, the "Wall Street Journal" wrote that Fiat could exercise its option on the purchase of 6% of Chrysler held by the US government before June 3, when Obama will visit the Detroit plant. In this way the share of the Turin company, which is now 46%, would rise to 52%.
