NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- Fiat S.p.A. is in talks for as much as $10 billion in financing from a pool of banks to buy the Chrysler Group LLC stake it doesn't own and refinance the two automakers' debt, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
The banks, which include Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BNP Paribas SA, are discussing loaning Fiat the money to purchase the 41.5 percent of the American carmaker held by the UAW's retiree health-care trust, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Fiat's talks with the banks were widely reported earlier this year, and Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed them publicly at the Geneva auto show in March, but the size and scope of the financial package became clearer with Bloomberg's report today.
Marchionne aims to complete the purchase by the end of the summer, pending the results of a legal case between Fiat and the health-care trust over the value of its Chrysler stake, the people said. Fiat has received verbal agreements at this point from some of the banks, while no final deal has been signed, the people said.
