Mr Roberto Colaninno, former head of Telecom Italia, is expected to make contact in coming days with leading participants in the crisis at Fiat, the Italian car manufacturer, to explore the option of taking a controlling stake in the Fiat Spa parent company.
Under the latest rescue plan for Fiat, Italy's largest industrial group, Mr Colaninno would replace the Agnelli family as the group's main shareholder and sell virtually all the non-car businesses to concentrate on turning around Fiat Auto's fortunes.
Mr Colaninno has already had discreet contacts on Fiat with Mr Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, and with the Agnellis, but not with General Motors, which owns 20 per cent of Fiat Auto, according to one person close to the situation.
"Mr Colaninno would be the chief executive and the leading investor. He has a strong record as someone who can turn around companies. And he has been talking with Mr Berlusconi, who wants Fiat Auto to stay Italian," this person said.
The plan is in its infancy and does not yet command public support from any of the main actors in the crisis, notably the Agnellis, Fiat's top management, its creditor banks, investment bank Mediobanca and GM.
Mr Umberto Agnelli - who heads the holding companies of the Agnelli family, which controls Fiat with a combined stake of roughly 30 per cent - said Fiat was sticking to its existing restructuring programme, which involves thousands of layoffs and asset sales.
Last month, the board flexed its muscles and defeated an attempt by Mediobanca and Mr Berlusconi to dump Mr Paolo Fresco as Fiat chairman and change a restructuring plan for the group that had been drawn up in 2002 with the banks.
This plan requires Fiat to reduce its gross debt by means of asset sales to about €23.5 billion by next month from €32.6 billion in September. However, Mr Berlusconi and Mr Colaninno believe the plan is flawed because it does too little to address what they see as Fiat Auto's most serious problems: poor management, unattractive car models and a shortage of cash for investment. - (Financial Times Service)
