I thought those spaggetti eaters were broke???

Fiat Buying Maserati from Ferrari ......I guess the Generals Buy-Out didn't go to pay the bills afterall....

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=8143

Fiat SpA announced Wednesday it's buying the Maserati sports car brand and business from Ferrari, a company in which Fiat already owns a majority stake. The deal is being done to meld Maserati and Fiat's underperforming Alfa Romeo unit, and also probably to liberate Maserati from Ferrari in advance of a stock listing of the Italian performance car company.

Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. Fiat just agreed to take $2 billion from General Motors in exchange for not exercising a put option that would have required GM to buy the 90 percent of Fiat Auto it didn't already own. This deal could not have been done before the deal with GM.

Fiat's struggling carmaking unit owns the Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands. The Fiat group also owns a 56 percent stake in Ferrari.

"This operation is essential for the future development of Alfa Romeo," said Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne. ...............

Fiat Buying Maserati from Ferrari ......I guess the Generals Buy-Out didn't go to pay the bills afterall....

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=8143

Fiat sort of "spun off" Ferrari....which is part of the reason that GM thought they had grounds to break off the deal to buy Fiat....now Fiat is buying Maserati from Ferrari....so they can combine Maserati with Alfa Romeo.....and it looks like Fiat could be using GM's settlement money to buy Maserati from.....themselves?

Fiat sort of "spun off" Ferrari....which is part of the reason that GM thought they had grounds to break off the deal to buy Fiat

Ferrari was never part of the put option to buy Fiat Auto. Ferrari, along with Maserati, always belonged to larger Fiat corporation, not the auto business.

GM's contention that the put was invalid mostly arose from the fact that Fiat Auto had spun off a majority position in its finance arm.

Ferrari was never part of the put option to buy Fiat Auto. Ferrari, along with Maserati, always belonged to larger Fiat corporation, not the auto business.

GM's contention that the put was invalid mostly arose from the fact that Fiat Auto had spun off a majority position in its finance arm.

The confusing part of this whole scenario is that Fiat was originally going to combine Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo into a single spin-off.