Volkswagen in talks for insolvent Karmann -sources

FRANKFURT Oct 25 (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) aims to take over Germany's Karmann, bringing the company back from the brink of going bust, two people familiar with the matter said.

"Talks have been going on for some time, but there is no agreement yet on a price," one of the sources told Reuters on Sunday.

Without fresh funds, the German independent contract carmaker and convertible roof-top specialist that filed for insolvency in April, will have to shut down in early November as new orders are scarce and customers remain unwilling to pay their bills. [ID:nLN366560]

A spokesman for Karmann told Reuters that Karmann and Volkwagen had been in touch with each other but declined to comment on the content of talks. Volkswagen declined to comment.

Sources said that the three families that own Karmann -- Battenfeld, Boll and Karmann -- want to fetch a price of about 65 million euros ($97.5 million) from any buyer.

That figure includes outstanding payments for a painting plant that Karmann bought for about 100 million euros a few years ago and has not yet paid off.

German weekly magazine Spiegel had said in a preview of an article to be published on Monday that Volkswagen has bid a low double-digit million euros sum for Karmann, considerably less than the owning families are looking to get. [ID:nLO305797]

Most famous for the 1950s VW Beetle-based coupe dubbed the Karmann Ghia, Karmann also developed the retractable hardtop roof first introduced with the Mercedes-Benz SLK before the idea was later copied by competitors, finding widespread use in popular volume models like the Peugeot 207cc. ($1=.6664 euros) (Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Mike Nesbit)