There is growing speculation in Europe that Daimler could become a target for a takeover.
Sources close to Daimler management told the Financial Times that company executives indeed are very concerned about a possible takeover because of several recent events. The article cites the following as factors that are intensifying concern over a possible Daimler takeover:
• the "audacious" move by Schaeffler, the privately owned maker of ball bearings and car parts, to take over its larger rival Continental. Potential Daimler suitors could come from emerging markets - or even Daimler's home turf;
• Daimler's warning last month on likely lower future profits;
• Daimler shares prices that are down by more than 45 percent in the past 12 months, reducing its market value to the equivalent of $59 billion;
• the collpase in value across the entire auto industry and the industry's "grim outlook" that has put the worth of the world's still largest automaker, General Motors, at barely $6 billion;
• the lack of "an anchor investor" to ward off unwanted suitors as BMW has with the Quandt family as controlling shareholders. Daimler's only large shareholder is the Emirate of Kuwait, with a stake of 7.6 percent as of the end of April. The rest of its stock is free float, split between institutional and private investors. A new investor might be lured to strip Daimler of its 8.8 billion euros of net liquidity or urge it to split off the truck division, as some of its minority shareholders have long demanded, the paper noted.
Here's AutoObserver's take: Daimler: A Takeover Target?
In a related story, things don't look rosey for European automakers. In fact it looks pretty grim.
steve_ says:
06:40 AM, 08/20/08
Maybe Cerberus will buy them. You know what they say about paybacks.
m6vx says:
07:10 AM, 08/20/08
Daimler, don't think of it as a takeover, but as a "merger of equals".
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
cruiserhead1 says:
08:22 AM, 08/20/08
interesting op-ed piece you linked from DETNEWS. The guy is doom-n-gloom about Euro brands but my feeling is that VW's success will be tied to the upcoming Golf.
If they can hit solid MPG numbers, I think it will be a big hit. If it is as poor as the current Rabbit, than they are in trouble.
I am excited about the next GTI but that model won't make or break them. It will be the Golf (Rabbit) and Jetta.
VW has 2 big waste bucket vehicles heading to non-profitablity to work against them. The Passat CC and Routan (Chrysler Minivan).
Not learning the first time that people aren't interested in a luxury VW when they can just get an Audi or BMW, it looks like VW is determined to fail again.
A Passat with less room, less passenger space, less visibility...for more money... hmmm, yeah let's see how that goes.
Routan seems like a corporate suicide move. How can we destroy VW's quality brand recognition the fastest?
Why wasn't VW putting the Microbus concept into production instead of wasting money on the CC