Speaking at the annual shareholders' meeting in Turin yesterday, Chrysler/Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said there is a better than 50% probability that the merger of the two automobile companies will be completed by June of next year. In comments quoted in Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Oro, Fiat Group Chairman John Elkann said the merger is "inevitable" and quoted his grandfather Gianni Agnelli, who said, "We are too small compared with the competition we face: Fiat still has to grow. The only remaining stumbling block is negotiating a firm price with the United Auto Workers retiree healthcare trust, which owns the remaining 41.5% of Chrysler not held by Fiat. Fiat has exercised its options on two small, 3.3% tranches but a decision on a fair price remains in the hands of a Delaware Chancery Court judge whose decision is already months overdue. That decision will help place a correct..
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