It was first reported last year that Samsung was interested in acquiring Fiat Chrysler's auto parts subsidiary Magneti Marelli. Progress was reportedly being made in the talks but the deal had to be set aside as Samsung dealt with the fallout from the Galaxy Note 7 disaster.
It was later reported that Samsung had actually given up on the Magneti Marelli acquisition partly because it had already spent $8 billion on acquiring Harman International. It was then reported last month that this story isn't over yet.
Samsung may still be trying to acquire the auto parts giant from Fiat Chrysler, previous reports suggest that it's offering $885 million for the company while Fiat Chrysler is asking $2.65 billion. A new report out of South Korea claims that Samsung is now in final talks with Fiat Chrysler to acquire Magneti Marelli later this year.
An industry source quoted in the report that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong had decided that the company will go ahead with this acquisition even before the corruption scandal that put him behind bars started. Lee Jae-yong has been on the board of Fiat Chrysler's holding company Exor since 2012.
In Lee's absence, Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun has reportedly been leading the Samsung delegation in the talks. The report claims that a tentative agreement on the price has been reached. Both companies have not commented on this report so nothing is confirmed as of now.
