First step toward Mercedes/BMW merger?

Daimler and BMW plan a share swap to boost cooperation between the two automakers, the German magazine Der Spiegel said today. Daimler would take a seven percent stake in BMW and BMW would have the same stake in Daimler, the magazine said in a report on its Web site.

Der Spiegel said that the Quandt family, who own 46 percent of BMW, oppose cross-ownership. Family head Johanna Quandt, her son Stefan and his sister Susanne Klatten, fear Daimler would launch a takeover of BMW, as happened when Daimler-Benz seized full control of Chrysler soon after a much-touted “merger of equals" in 1998.

The German government has been informally approached to find out whether it would overrule any opposition to cross-ownership from antitrust authorities, the magazine said.

Der Spiegel said Daimler and BMW will shortly announce details of a proposed cooperation for purchasing components. Joint purchasing is expected to save the two companies several hundred millions of euros short-term and billions in the mid-term.

The magazine quoted a BMW manager as saying: “We will get closer together through this cooperation, perhaps more will come out of it."

Daimler and BMW have both been hit hard by a steep decline in luxury car sales during the global economic recession.