Family sees deal in Daimler diesel unit sale, report says
FRANKFURT -- Minority shareholders of DaimlerChrysler's MTU Friedrichshafen diesel motor unit expect to strike an amicable deal with the carmaker on how a sale can proceed, a German newspaper reported on Wednesday.
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"I assume that that we will be able to reach a mutually agreed solution with Daimler before the shareholders meeting on Sept. 1 and thus avoid a legal dispute," Count Albrecht von Brandenstein-Zeppelin told the Handelsblatt paper.
He said the founding Brandenstein-Zeppelin and Schmid-Maybach families had concrete ideas on what kind of compromise could emerge but did not reveal them in the interview, which was released ahead of publication on Thursday.
Differences between the carmaker and the families, who own 12 percent of MTU Friedrichshafen but have veto rights on a sale, have held up divestment of the business that Daimler has said is worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.23 billion).
Sources familiar with the situation told Reuters this week that DaimlerChrysler planned to use the meeting to shift MTU assets into a new business that could be sold at auction.
The sources said Daimler's plan was backed by the company's unions and was designed to get around minority shareholders who have been threatening to force the company into exclusive talks with buyout firm the Carlyle Group.
The families have reached an exclusivity agreement with Carlyle but can do little to prevent such a restructuring deal as just 75 percent of votes are needed to liquidate the existing company and Daimler owns 88 percent of the business.
Carlyle would remain eligible to bid for the unit but Daimler wants others to participate in the auction, the sources said.
Daimler declined to comment on the negotiations.
