FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Volkswagen AG is considering buying Serbian
state-owned carmaker Zastava to gain production sites in eastern Europe,
Handelsblatt reported, citing sources.
Company representatives visited a Zastava plant in Serbia ahead of the
Easter holidays, the newspaper said.
A spokesman for the company told Handelsblatt Volkswagen has not yet decided
whether to bid for the carmaker.
Meanwhile, General Motors Corp (GM) has no plans to bid for Zastava, a
spokesman for GM Europe told Handelsblatt.
Zastava is currently 99.9 pct-owned by the Serbian government, which aims to
sell 98.8 pct of shares. The deadline for submission of bids is April 15.
Initial indications of interest were received by GM, Fiat SpA, Ford Motor
Co, Indian carmaker Tata Motors Ltd and China's FAW Group Corp, the newspaper
said.
maria.sheahan@thomson.com
mas/slj
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