Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is prepared to make an unsolicited bid to buy the Chrysler Group for $4.5 billion and will offer $100 million to DaimlerChrysler AG for exclusive negotiating rights on the sale, the Detroit News has learned.
Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. investment firm notified DaimlerChrysler of the offer in letters to the German automaker's CEO, Dieter Zetsche, and its supervisory board.
Kerkorian, who tried to buy Chrysler in 1995, said he is prepared to make a provisional offer to acquire the U.S. automaker that includes offering a "substantial portion of equity" to the United Auto Workers as part a solution to cut health-care costs.
To gain exclusive negotiating rights, Kekrorian is prepared to give DaimlerChrysler $100 million -- $25 million of which the company could keep if a deal does not materialize.
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