Canadian to buy Chrysler?

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/COL06/702240376/1014/BUSINESS01

Zetsche meeting adds to intrigue
Is auto supplier eyeing Chrysler?
February 24, 2007

BY TOM WALSH

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Here's another log to toss onto the speculative fire surrounding the
future of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group:

Frank Stronach, founder and chairman of the Canadian auto supplier
Magna International Corp., recently named in news reports as one of
many possible buyers for Chrysler, met with DCX Chairman Dieter
Zetsche on the afternoon of Feb. 14. That's the same day Zetsche
declared that the German auto giant was looking at all options for
Chrysler, including a possible sale.

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What did they talk about? Nobody's saying.

But Tracy Fuerst, communications manager at Magna's U.S. headquarters
in Troy, confirmed Friday that Stronach and Zetsche did meet on the
14th. She would not comment on what was discussed.

A British newsletter, SupplierBusiness, reported earlier this week
that Magna could be a buyer for Chrysler and might hire former
Chrysler executive Wolfgang Bernhard to run it.

Stronach, 74, is "a big thinker, a classic entrepreneur, so who
knows?" said Neil DeKoker, managing director of the Original Equipment
Suppliers Association in Troy, when asked Friday about the possibility
of a Magna-Chrysler deal.

"Magna has the scale to do it, and they have, in Mark Hogan, a guy to
run it," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive
Research. Hogan was a General Motors Corp. executive before joining
Magna as president in 2004. Magna already operates an assembly plant
in Graz, Austria, where it makes vehicles under contract for Chrysler
to sell in Europe.

Magna made a $639-million profit on $22.8 billion in sales last year.
Its outstanding stock is worth $8.8 billion, slightly less than half
the market value of GM, which also is reported to be talking about
Chrysler.

For Stronach to fly from Toronto to Detroit on the day that Zetsche
and Chrysler President Tom LaSorda were conducting a major media event
on DCX earnings and Chrysler's much-anticipated restructuring plan,
it's likely that the meeting was about something strategic in nature.

A few hours before meeting Zetsche on Feb. 14, Stronach, whose Magna
Entertainment is the largest owner and operator of horse-racing tracks
in North America, met with Christine White, Michigan's racing
commissioner, and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. The topic for
that meeting was to discuss ideas Stronach has for a thoroughbred
racetrack that Magna wants to build near Metro Airport.

"I think the stories about possible Chrysler buyers are going to flow
pretty freely for a while," Cole said.