Fiat has hired Virginia-based Environ Holdings Inc to conduct a thorough safety and environmental review of Chrysler LLC's array factories and facilities this week and assess the liabilities under United States laws that could arise if the proposal to take a stake in the ailing company goes ahead.

The Italian carmaker is currently undertaking due diligence on the American giant as it edges its way towards the proposed deal, first announced back in January, that would see it supplying its efficient technology and small platform architecture in exchange for a 35 percent equity stake, with the option in the future to raise this to 55 percent. Environ Holdings is reported to be evaluating the environmental and safety liabilities that Fiat could be exposed to if the deal goes ahead.

Environ Holdings Inc.

Environ was founded in 1982 in Washington, D.C., as a privately held consulting firm providing a broad range of services to clients concerned with the problems of human exposure to potentially hazardous substances in the environment; in food ingredients and packaging; in drugs, medical devices, and consumer products; and in the workplace. The strong demand for chemical risk assessment and environmental risk management services that drove the firm's growth in the early years was fuelled by the public's insistence that steps be taken effectively to manage exposure and health risks related to the products and by-products of industry and technology.

At the outset, the firm chose to pursue a course of planned, measured growth to meet the challenge of geographical expansion without diluting leadership or weakening the company's ability to perform sophisticated multidisciplinary engagements. The first ten years saw expansion to six domestic offices on both coasts. Subsequent domestic expansion positioned Environ strategically throughout the United States.

After establishing a solid foundation and longstanding reputation in the United States as a sophisticated, forward-thinking consultancy that pioneered the application of human health and environmental risk assessment to a wide variety of issues facing business decision makers, the firm began a measured international expansion, beginning with the acquisition of a well-reputed UK consultancy (the former EAG) in 1996, and in the year 2000 the opening of Environ offices in Italy, France, Germany, and Finland. Subsequent European expansion positioned the firm in the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. The year 2001 saw the opening of the first Asia Pacific offices in Australia, China, Malaysia, and Singapore, further enhancing the firm's ability to meet the worldwide needs of an increasingly transnational client base.

After an almost 10-year period in the 1990s as a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded parent companies, Environ reprivatised with a management buyout in 1999. The privatization of our firm, at a time when many of our competitors were consolidating and becoming part of larger publicly held corporations, enhanced Environ's ability to attract and retain the best and brightest practitioners that our industry has to offer--those seeking an environment that fosters collaboration, creativity, and sophisticated thinking. Our privatization has enhanced the entrepreneurial spirit that was at the heart of Environ from the outset, returning control of the firm to those who provide client services and who hold the successful provision of these services as their highest objective.

The 2003 merger with Applied Epidemiology, Inc. (AEI), brought to Environ a full range of epidemiological consulting services in occupational health, environmental health, and injury and disability research. The application of epidemiological concepts and methods provides powerful, data-fuelled solutions to a wide array of health risk challenges.

In the spring of 2005, Environ merged with The Advent Group, Inc., a premier consulting and engineering organization that specializes in Integrated Industrial Wastewater Management and related areas for predominately industrial clients. This merger created a firm uniquely qualified to provide a full range of engineering and technical services to help clients meet their business goals related to water management.

In August 2007, Environ acquired Boelter Associates, Inc.—the largest single acquisition in the firm's history. The acquisition is ideally aligned with Environ's strategy of growing through adding talent in complementary service areas and expanding into geographic regions where clients would directly benefit from the firm's presence. The addition of Boelter's professionals positions us to offer clients an expanded array of environmental and human health consulting capabilities, particularly in the areas of industrial hygiene and building forensics.