Fiat Chrysler is negotiating with the Peugeot Citroen Group, can it be successful?
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “car stuff” (ID: chedongxi ), by Bear.
Car stuff on October 31 news, the French car PSA Peugeot Citroen Group (PSA) and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) merger has been the latest developments. The two officials admitted that Reuters and other media are promoting the merger of the two major auto companies, and will set up a report on the auto group with a market value of 48.4 billion U.S. dollars (about 341.4 billion yuan).
▲ PSA and FCA official statement on the merger event
Before, FCA sought to merge with French Renault in May this year. In the end, due to the French political environment, the opposition of the French government of Renault and Nissan, the proposal was cancelled 10 days after the issue, and the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot Citroen may face the same dilemma.
It is worth mentioning that once the two car companies have successfully merged, the FCA-PSA Alliance will rank among the world’s fifth largest auto group with nearly 8.74 million units of annual sales (of which FCA’s annual sales in 2018 are about 4.84 million units, PSA’s annual sales in 2018 is about 3.9 million units).
In addition to changes in scale, the merger of the two car companies will save a total of 4 billion euros (about 31.5 billion yuan) in operating costs per year, and after the merger, FCA will be able to use the PSA CMP module. Transform the electric vehicle platform to promote its transformation towards electricization.
No matter whether the merger is successful or not, this will be another attempt by European car companies to form an alliance. In the face of the downturn of the automobile market and the impact of the new wave of automobile, the attempt to form alliances between traditional car companies has become more and more successful.For a trend.
PSA and FCA officials are promoting the formation of the world’s fifth largest auto group
PSA Peugeot Citro龙n Group (PSA) and Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCA) yesterday confirmed that the two parties are promoting the merger of the two major auto companies, and will eventually recognize the relevant media reports of a car group with a market value of 48.4 billion US dollars.
But the official of the two car companies did not disclose more information, only that the two sides are discussing the creation of one of the world’s leading travel groups.
But according to a source quoted by Reuters, the board of directors of the two sides agreed to merge the two car companies on Wednesday in the United States, and the combined company’s market capitalization may reach $48.4 billion. Moreover, the two companies sold a total of 8.74 million units in 2018, which is enough to support the company after the merger to become the world’s fifth largest automobile group (the top four are Volkswagen Group, Toyota Motor, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, General Motors). .
Informed sources said that the newly formed company will be operated by Carlos Tavares, CEO of Peugeot Citroen Group, and John Elkann, chairman of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, will serve Chairman of the new company board of directors.
▲Peugeot Citroen CEO Carlos Tavares (left) Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkan (right)
After the merger, the new company’s board of directors will have 11 members, including six from Peugeot Citroen, five from Fiat Chrysler, and Carlos Tavares and John Elkan.
According to the content of the merger proposal, the two parties will also establish a new joint venture company in the Netherlands in a 50-50 shareholding.
Fiat Chrysler will pay a special dividend of 5.5 billion euros (approximately RMB 43.3 billion) to shareholders and will distribute to shareholders a total of 250 million euros (about 2 billion yuan) in the robot company Comau. Shares.
The Peugeot Citroen Group will split its share of the auto parts manufacturer Faurecia with a value of 3 billion euros (about 23.6 billion yuan) and distribute it to shareholders.
What will the two sides get after the merger?
In fact, this merger is not just the fifth largest car group in the world.single.
For both parties, this merger has these three potential benefits:
1. After the merger, the two parties will be able to share key technologies and production capacity. According to informed sources, this will save the two parties an annual operating cost of nearly 4 billion euros. For the major automobile groups that are under the decline of the automobile market and urgently need to reduce costs, such temptation is difficult to refuse.
2. After the merger, Fiat Chrysler will be able to use Peugeot Citroen’s CMP modular electric vehicle platform to drive its transformation towards electrification. At present, Peugeot Citroen has used the platform to build the Peugeot e-208 and the Opel Corsa-emini.
The previous strategic consulting firm PAConsulting predicted that if Fiat Chrysler could not change the energy structure of its own car, the company would face a $700 million fine. If Fiat Chrysler is able to use Peugeot Citro龙n’s modular electric vehicle platform, the company is likely to be able to avoid a huge fine.
3. At the same time, in the fields of intelligent in-vehicle systems and automatic driving, Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot Citroen Group can also communicate with each other, saving key development costs.
The combined vision is good, but the resistance is very large
Although the merger of the two parties will lead to the establishment of the world’s fifth largest automobile group, and can save huge operating costs for both parties.
The vision is very good, but the resistance is very big. In May of this year, Fiat Chrysler tried to merge with French Renault, but due to the French political environment, the opposition of the French government of Renault and Nissan, the proposal finally fell in June.
The merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot Citroen will face the same dilemma. The French government remains one of the major shareholders of the Peugeot Citroen Group. At the same time, the attitude of another major shareholder, Dongfeng Motor, is not clear.
Based on the merger, the shares of the major shareholders of the original company will be diluted, and the major shareholders of the Peugeot Citroen Group will not necessarily pass the merger proposal.
In addition, the Italian trade unions are also worried that the merger of Fiat Chrysler and the Peugeot Citroen Group will affect the employment situation in the country.
Conclusion: The global car companies have a clear trend of “holding warmth”
In the downturn of the global auto market, under the impact of the new wave of automobile, the trend of global car companies to “cage the group” is becoming more and more obvious. At the beginning of this year, Volkswagen and Ford Europe and the United States and the two major car giants formed an alliance. Fiat Chrysler failed to merge with France’s Renault in May this year, and launched a merger proposal with another French car company Peugeot Citroen Group.
If this merger is successful, it will lead to the establishment of the world’s fifth largest car group. At the same time, the merger will save both sides 4 per year.The operating cost of 0 billion euros and the promotion of Fiat Chrysler’s electrification transformation can be described as a beautiful vision.
But behind the good vision, the attitude of the major shareholders of Peugeot Citroen is not clear, the concerns of the Italian trade unions have added uncertain factors for the merger, and ultimately the successful merger, the two sides need further discussion.