VW eyes 6.7 billion euro Scania buyout to seal trucks deal

Volkswagen will submit a voluntary tender offer to shareholders of Swedish truck division Scania worth 6.7 billion euros ($9.21 billion) as it aims to jump-start a stalled eight-year effort to forge Europe's biggest truckmaker.

VW has spent billions of euros over the past decade on expanding stakes in Scania and its other trucks division MAN SE to reap cost savings and take on Daimler , the world's biggest truck maker.

The tender period will start on March 17 and end April 25, Wolfsburg-based VW said in a statement on Friday. VW expect additional synergies of at least 650 million euros per year, adding it may take at least 10 years to achieve the full potential.

Europe's biggest automotive group is struggling to replicate its effective multi-brand management of passenger-car marques such as luxury flagship Audi and Czech division Skoda in its truck operations, the success of which is important for its goal of becoming world market leader by 2018.

"Scania will play a central and strategic role within the integrated trucks manufacturer," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said in a statement.

VW, together with Munich-based MAN, already owns 62.6 percent of Scania's equity and 89.2 percent of the votes.

The German group has been pushing an alliance of its heavy truck brands since first buying a stake in MAN in 2006, a move that thwarted MAN's own attempt to take over Scania which VW partially owned. VW gained a controlling stake in MAN in 2008.

Separately, VW stuck to its guidance for higher operating profit this year after publishing record earnings of 11.7 billion euros for 2013. The carmaker said it will aim for an operating profit margin of between 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent in 2014.

($1 = 0.7275 euros)

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Elaine Hardcastle)