Bollore says could consider Pininfarina stake

GENEVA (Reuters) - French financier Vincent Bollore said on Wednesday he could consider taking a stake in Pininfarina if the Italian car designer needed an industrial partner, adding he would look into the idea this year.

Shares in Pininfarina (PNNI.MI), which is suffering from severe financial problems as a result of the sharp downturn in the automotive industry, shot up on the remark. At 7:41 a.m. EST they were suspended for excessive gains, indicated up 14.08 percent at 2.35 euros.

"We have a partnership with them already, in a 50/50 subsidiary and if tomorrow, as they have perhaps said, they need an industrial partner, we will be there, because it is a company we admire very much," Bollore told Reuters at the autoshow.

Bollore has a joint venture with Pininfarina to build an electric car to take advantage of growing demand for vehicles with low -- or no -- CO2 emissions. His group is supplying the lithium-metal-polymer battery technology to make it run.

Bollore appeared at the autoshow to announce jointly with Pininfarina their plans to start renting out the car within a year.

The success of the car -- to be called Bluecar -- is crucial for the survival of Pininfarina, whose family owners have been forced to sell their controlling stake to pay off debt.

Bollore was supposed to take part in a capital increase by Pininfarina to finance the joint venture, but the operation was abandoned after the family failed to reach a quick agreement with its bankers to reschedule 600 million euros in debt.

The final agreement, reached at the end of last year, forces the family to sell its 50.6 percent stake to pay off 180 million euros of that debt.

Managing Director Silvio Angori told Reuters at the Pininfarina stand at the autoshow the family had yet to choose among three investments banks to help it find a buyer.