FCA and Italy’s SACE do not comment on reports automaker seeking 6.5 billion euro state-backed loan

MILAN (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler and Italy’s export credit agency SACE on Friday did not comment on reports the automaker was seeking State guarantees on loans worth up to 6.5 billion euros ($7 billion) to weather the coronavirus crisis.

On Friday Italian daily MF said Fiat Chrysler (FCA) Italian unit, which oversees production sites in the country, was in the process of asking state guarantees for loans, after the automaker said earlier this week it scrapped its planned ordinary dividend on 2019 results.

Bloomberg said FCA was in talks over a state-backed credit line of about 6.3 billion euros, with Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo as lead lender.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari and Stefano Bernabei, editing by Cristina Carlevaro)