Daimler Denies Offer for Fiat Industrial Unit

Daimler AG (DDAIF) denied that is in talks with Fiat SpA (FIATY) about taking over the Italian carmaker's industrial operations.

"There are no talks on this with Fiat," Daimler spokesman Florian Martens told Bloomberg News. "In our industry at this time, everyone is talking with everyone and so are we."

Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported that Daimler made a 9-billion euro ($12 billion) pre-offer for Fiat Industrial SpA, the truck and tractor unit being spun off from Fiat. The newspaper said that Fiat is holding out for 10.5 billion euros.

Daimler is the world's largest maker of heavy trucks.

Fiat Industrial may have a market value of 13 billion euros, Jochen Gehrke, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, told Bloomberg News.