DaimlerChrysler May Buy Out Remaining Mitsubishi Stake

DaimlerChrysler has said that it might exercise an option to take control of the Mitsubishi Motors Corp. as early as 2003 if the fourth largest Japanese carmaker returns to profit and also reduces debt.

The CEO of DaimlerChrysler, Juergen Schrempp, told the Der Spiegel magazine in an interview that the takeover might come ?at the earliest? in 2003. A Company spokesman Toni Melfi said that the report was accurate. Mitsubishi Motors shares rose by nine percent to their highest level in over nine months.

The German automaker acquired a thirty four percent stake in the Japanese manufacturer in 2000 as well as the right for a takeover in three years time. It has since increased the stake to 37 percent in the maker of the Pajero sport-utility vehicles, which has said it probably broke even in the business year ended March 31st, after a record loss of 278 billion yen ($2.1 billion) the year earlier.

?We think things are still tough? at Mitsubishi Motors, said Greg Melich, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, ?They could finance the purchase, but the real cost would be taking over Mitsubishi's debt.?

Author: Neftegaz.ru