Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is back in Germany this week to put the final touches on an offer to acquire Opel, the main marque of General Motors' European division.
According to reports in the German press on Monday, Marchionne will meet with central and regional government officials from whom he is seeking loan guarantees to finance the takeover of Opel as well as Sweden's Saab, which is also part of GM Europe.
Marchionne's goal is to merge the operations of Fiat Auto, GM Europe and Chrysler to create a global automotive player on the level of Japan's Toyota and Volkswagen of Germany.
A non-cash deal to obtain control of Chrysler has already been negotiated with the Detroit No.3 and Washington administration officials. Last week it received a green light from the Federal Trade Commission, the American anti-trust watchdog.
Negotiations with Opel have been difficult due to the fears of unions in Germany and Italy that a merger will lead to plant closings and layoffs in both countries.
Fiat has said it intends to keep plants of both carmakers open.
According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, negotiations for Opel have entered a ''decisive phase'' with Wednesday's deadlines for offer.
The German press said on Monday that German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg may travel to the US later this week to confer with GM top brass and the Washington team overseeing the revamping of America's automotive sector.
Observers believe Fiat's main rival for Opel is the Austrian-Canadian auto parts maker Magna International, which has reportedly allied with Russian carmaker GAZ and Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank.
Aside from meeting with government officials, the German press said that Marchionne this week will hold direct talks for the first time with Opel officials, having until now limited his negotiations to GM.
GM, like Chrysler, was told by Washington to radically restructure it wanted further federal bail-out funds. A preliminary plan from GM envisioned either finding a majority partner for Opel-Saab or selling it altogether.
Fiat's offer for Chrysler is a no-cash deal with Italian green and small-car technology offered in exchange for a controlling stake.
The Italian carmaker is reported to be offering GM no cash as well but a stake in the new, global company in exchange for its European division and, possibly, its international operations, especially in Latin America.
Cash to finance the three-way merger would come from government-guaranteed loans in Europe and the US which Fiat is convinced can be repaid in a relatively short term.
