DaimlerChrysler buys rest of diesel engine unit, opens way for sale

BERLIN (AP) _ DaimlerChrysler AG said Friday it had agreed to buy out minority shareholders in diesel-engine maker MTU Friedrichshafen, opening the way for its sale. <br/><br/>The German-American carmaker

Monday, September 12th 2005, 12:25 pm

By: News On 6

BERLIN (AP) _ DaimlerChrysler AG said Friday it had agreed to buy out minority shareholders in diesel-engine maker MTU Friedrichshafen, opening the way for its sale.

The German-American carmaker said it had agreed to buy for an undisclosed sum the 12 percent of MTU it didn't already own from the Maybach and Zeppelin families.

DaimlerChrysler, which is selling off activities beyond its core vehicles business and its holding in European aerospace group EADS, said it was in talks with several potential buyers.

It gave no details, though German truck maker MAN AG said it remained interested in a takeover. U.S. private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and EQT Partners of Sweden are also reportedly interested.

Outgoing DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp has said the company expects a sale of MTU, whose 6,700 workers build engines for trains, ships and construction machinery, to bring in about $1.2 billion.

DaimlerChrysler said buying out the minority shareholders stopped MTU's closure. The automaker warned it would shutter the firm rather than cede it to U.S. buyout firm The Carlyle Group.

``The uncertainty for the firm and all its employees has been ended,'' Stuttgart-based DaimlerChrysler said in a statement.