BY TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Here's another log to toss onto the speculative fire surrounding the future of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group:
Frank Stronach, founder and chairman of the Canadian auto supplier Magna International Corp., recently named in news reports as one of many possible buyers for Chrysler, met with DCX Chairman Dieter Zetsche on the afternoon of Feb. 14. That's the same day Zetsche declared that the German auto giant was looking at all options for Chrysler, including a possible sale.
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What did they talk about? Nobody's saying.
But Tracy Fuerst, communications manager at Magna's U.S. headquarters in Troy, confirmed Friday that Stronach and Zetsche did meet on the
14th. She would not comment on what was discussed.A British newsletter, SupplierBusiness, reported earlier this week that Magna could be a buyer for Chrysler and might hire former Chrysler executive Wolfgang Bernhard to run it.
Stronach, 74, is "a big thinker, a classic entrepreneur, so who knows?" said Neil DeKoker, managing director of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association in Troy, when asked Friday about the possibility of a Magna-Chrysler deal.
"Magna has the scale to do it, and they have, in Mark Hogan, a guy to run it," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. Hogan was a General Motors Corp. executive before joining Magna as president in 2004. Magna already operates an assembly plant in Graz, Austria, where it makes vehicles under contract for Chrysler to sell in Europe.
Magna made a $639-million profit on $22.8 billion in sales last year. Its outstanding stock is worth $8.8 billion, slightly less than half the market value of GM, which also is reported to be talking about Chrysler.
For Stronach to fly from Toronto to Detroit on the day that Zetsche and Chrysler President Tom LaSorda were conducting a major media event on DCX earnings and Chrysler's much-anticipated restructuring plan, it's likely that the meeting was about something strategic in nature.
A few hours before meeting Zetsche on Feb. 14, Stronach, whose Magna Entertainment is the largest owner and operator of horse-racing tracks in North America, met with Christine White, Michigan's racing commissioner, and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. The topic for that meeting was to discuss ideas Stronach has for a thoroughbred racetrack that Magna wants to build near Metro Airport.
"I think the stories about possible Chrysler buyers are going to flow pretty freely for a while," Cole said.