Italy

Italian automaker Fiat SpA's next project is a deal with Germany's Opel after a landmark alliance with U.S. car maker Chrysler, Fiat's chief executive said in an interview published on Friday. Sergio Marchionne told La Stampa newspaper that Fiat also remained committed to Italy but needed to work with the government and unions on "structural problems". Fiat sealed an industry-changing deal with Chrysler, the smallest of Detroit's Big Three automakers, on Thursday. Fiat will take an initial 20 percent stake in Chrysler, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Fiat's chief executive has returned to the United States for talks as pressure builds to seal a partnership deal with Chrysler before the end of the month, sources at the Italian car maker said on Monday. Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne is going to Detroit and Washington, where the government has given Fiat and Chrysler an April 30 deadline to get the U.S. car maker's unions and bondholders to agree the deal, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Banco Popolare became the first Italian bank to take up the government's offer of support for its lenders on Tuesday, with newspapers saying it could use the funds to help delist its Italease unit, Reuters reported. Italy's sixth-biggest bank said it had asked the Economy Ministry and the Bank of Italy for permission to issue €1.45 billion ($1.83 billion) of securities under a government-sponsored bond-purchasing scheme. Other leading lenders, including the country's two biggest banks--UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo--have said they would evaluate the programme.

A judge has squashed the hopes of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its U.S. subsidiary for an interlocutory appeal in a securities fraud class action against bankrupt Italian dairy giant Parmalat SpA and its financial and accounting advisers, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S.

Hayman Advisors LP, the firm that earned $500 million betting on the U.S. subprime mortgage-market collapse, says Europe’s monetary union is about to fall apart, Bloomberg reported. Richard Howard, a managing director for global markets at Dallas-based Hayman, said Germany may opt to shore up its own economy, Europe’s biggest, rather than bail out fellow euro nations such as Austria, Italy and Spain as their banks sag under the weight of bad debts. That might lead to defaults and compel Germany to renounce the euro, he said.

European Union officials are concerned that the pound’s slide to a record low against the euro could destabilize the British economy, according to a document prepared last month by European Commission and EU finance ministry officials. The pound’s “very rapid” drop “raises questions about the financial stability of the British economy,” said the document, which was prepared ahead of the Feb. 14 Group of Seven meeting in Rome and obtained by Bloomberg News. The currency’s weakness “is a source of concern for the euro area.” The report contradicts Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s argument on Feb.

General Motors's European brands are near collapse, with Germany's Opel in need of substantially more funding and Saab reported to be asking for $590 million from the Swedish government to help it restructure, Reuters reported. Filing for protection from creditors on Friday, Saab said it would present a reorganisation proposal within three weeks while court filings revealed that it estimated its losses in 2008 and 2009 at around 3 billion Swedish crowns ($340.1 million).

Italian dairy company Parmalat SpA Friday said it has clinched four new deals with banks to settle legal claims related to its 2003 bankruptcy, worth a total of €105 million, Dow Jones reported. Under the terms of a legal settlement reached with Deutsche Bank, the bank will pay Parmalat a total of €76.5 million in return for it abandoning any existing or future claim. In another deal with Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna, Parmalat will get €12.5 million to settle all pending disputes.

Toyota, the world's top carmaker, said its losses were ballooning as world car sales slid while truckmaker Volvo swung to a fourth quarter loss and Italy readied aid for the ailing industry, Reuters reported. A sudden collapse in consumer demand last year battered automakers who were forced to cut production and shed jobs leaving the sector and its related industries reeling. Governments have swung into action, preparing aid packages to help out their struggling car sectors.

A right-wing Italian cabinet minister said on Sunday there would be a popular revolt if carmaker Fiat was given government help, warning government before talks with the auto sector this week, Reuters reported. "We have already paid up to intervene in Fiat so many times and you can't keep sharing the debt and keeping the profit," Roberto Calderoli, who has the task of whittling down bureaucracy and legislation in the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, told state television RAI.