Daimler denies interest in acquiring Volvo

wDaimler has no interest in acquiring Ford Motor unit Volvo, a Daimler spokesman said on Saturday following a magazine report that the German carmaker had examined its Swedish rival.

"We were never interested in Volvo," the spokesman said.

German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that Daimler had carefully looked at a possible deal in recent weeks but had rejected the idea.
Der Spiegel cited no sources for its report, which was released ahead of publication on Monday.

Ford is considering strategic options for the Volvo brand and expects a lot of interest, Ford CEO Alan Mulally said last month.

Volvo has been put up for sale by Ford, which along with its rivals General Motors Corp and Chrysler is trying to survive a deep downturn in U.S. vehicle demand.

A Chinese newspaper last month named Ford's China partner Changan Automobile Group as a potential buyer for Volvo. Ford declined to comment on the report.

Ford and Mazda Motor Corp operate a car venture with Changan's listed arm, Chongqing Changan Automobile, which makes mid-sized Focus sedans and Volvo S40s, among other brands.

Sweden has said it will provide up to 25 billion crowns ($3.20 billion) in credit guarantees and emergency loans to its ailing auto industry but has no plans to buy stakes in Volvo or GM unit Saab.

Porsche raises stake in VW to over 50%

Germany's Porsche Automobil Holding has raised its stake in Volkswagen to more than 50 percent, triggering a mandatory takeover offer for Sweden's Scania as a result.

Porsche's purchase of further ordinary shares in Volkswagen means it now holds a 50.76 percent stake, Porsche said on Monday. It held 42.6 percent previously.

The additional stake of 8.16 percent was worth about 6.1 billion euros ($8.49 billion) on the stock market on Monday, according to Reuters calculations, considering that Volkswagen shares closed at 254.74 euros, down 1.7 percent.

Porsche had initially planned to raise its stake above 50 percent by the end of last year, but a massive short squeeze in late October briefly made VW the world's most valuable company, when its share price rocketed to just over 1,000 euros from 210 euros in two trading sessions.

Porsche's Chief Financial Officer Holger Haerter hence said in November it was "increasingly unlikely" that Porsche would take majority control by the end of December, but added he expected to do so by early 2009 at the latest.

A Porsche spokesman confirmed that the sports car maker still planned to increase its stake in VW to 75 percent at some point this year, given a favorable market environment.

As a result of its stake hike on Monday, Porsche now has indirect control of Swedish truck maker Scania, in which Volkswagen holds about 69 percent of the voting rights.

Porsche is required by Swedish law to make a mandatory takeover offer, but the German sports car maker said it had no strategic interest in Scania and was not interested in acquiring Scania shares.

It said it was not bound by pre-acquisition prices and was only obliged to offer the minimum price prescribed by law.

In December, German industrial conglomerate MAN underscored its long-term strategic interest in Scania, saying it had bought call options on Scania's stock, giving it access to more than 20 percent of Scania's voting rights.

The deal marked another step toward a three-way truck deal that analysts expect to emerge among MAN, Volkswagen and Scania.

Volkswagen is the biggest shareholder in both MAN and Scania.