Report: Volvo to Make Navistar Bid

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Volvo AB is preparing to make a bid of as much as $3.35 billion for the U.S. truck and bus manufacturer Navistar, a Swedish business newspaper reported Friday.

Volvo's shares dipped about 0.7 percent Friday on the Stockholm exchange, while shares of Navistar International Corp. surged 9 percent, or by $3.66 1/4 a share to $43 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Volvo spokesmen did not return calls for comment on the report in the newspaper Dagens Industri, which did not cite sources for its information. It said the offer could be in the range of $48-50 per share.

That would value Navistar, which has about 67 million shares, at about $3.2 billion to $3.35 billion.

"We don't comment on rumors or respond to speculation," said Roy Wiley, a spokesman for the Chicago-based company.

Navistar was the market leader in medium and heavy trucks and school buses in North America last year with about 29 percent of them market, Wiley said. It also makes engines.

In January, Volvo acquired 13 percent of the shares in rival Swedish heavy vehicle-maker Scania and declared its intent to acquire the company.

However, talks between Volvo and Investor AB, which owns 45 percent of the shares in Scania, ended this month.

Volvo's shareholders are to meet March 8 to vote on the proposed sale of Volvo's passenger-car division to Ford Motor Co. for $6.45 billion.

Volvo chief executive Leif Johansson had said the car division that makes about 400,000 vehicles a year was too small to survive without the resources of a larger company and that Volvo wanted to shed it to concentrate on building up its other divisions.

Volvo also makes trucks, buses, heavy equipment and marine and aircraft engines.