- Title: Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner agree $50 bln merger deal
- Date: 18th December 2019
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (DECEMBER 18, 2019) (REUTERS) DAX BOARD AT FRANKFURT STOCK EXCHANGE BOARD SHOWING DAX LOSS OF 27.24 POINTS OR 0.2% VARIOUS OF TRADERS BANK SHARES ON BOARD TRADER DAX BOARD DAX GRAPH (SOUNDBITE) (German) BANKHAUS METZLER CAR INDUSTRY ANALYST, JUERGEN PIEPER, SAYING: "This is a merger of two companies which have somewhat different motives: Peugeot is looking for size, size, size. They have not yet reached the first league of carmakers and that's exactly where they are heading for. Mr. Tavares' ambitions are so big that he wants to belong to the first league. As far as Fiat goes, technically they are lagging behind so much that they simply need a partner. They had been openly looking around for some time and Peugeot is in some ways what's left over." PEUGEOT SHARES ON BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (German) BANKHAUS METZLER CAR INDUSTRY ANALYST, JUERGEN PIEPER, SAYING: "This is definitely not a love match but the relationship is not without affection either. They were already in discussions at the beginning of the year and at the time, there were reasons to prevent this, possibly from the French government. Now it became clear that there aren't that many who want to take on Fiat Chrysler because, and that's the biggest problem, Fiat is technically out of date. I think a lot of investments are needed and a close look at the Italian factories is necessary. Then they can succeed but first, a lot of clean-up work is required." INDUSTRIAL SHARES ON BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (German) BANKHAUS METZLER CAR INDUSTRY ANALYST, JUERGEN PIEPER, SAYING: "Despite the muddle of I think 15 brands Opel stands out as one of the bright lights in this conglomerate which just landed on its feet so I don't expect it to go under, quite the contrary." TRADING FLOOR DAX BOARD VARIOUS OF TRADERS FLOOR
- Embargoed: 1st January 2020 09:57
- Keywords: DAX FiatChrysler Frankfurt Opel PSA Peugeot m&a merger shares stocks
- Location: FRANKFURT & RUESSELSHEIM, GERMANY / UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
- City: FRANKFURT & RUESSELSHEIM, GERMANY / UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA001BAI57RH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA have reached a binding agreement over their roughly $50 billion merger that will reshape the global car industry.
France's PSA and Italian-American Fiat Chrysler (FCA), which are yet to decide on a name for their new company, will now start work on delivering their pledge to cut costs by 3.7 billion euros ($4.1 billion) a year without closing factories.
That will be all the harder with politicians and strong labour unions in both France and Italy worried about job losses at a combined business that will employ around 400,000 people.
In Frankfurt, car industry analyst Juergen Pieper of Metzler bank said that while PSA was "looking for size, size, size," Fiat Chrysler did not have a choice since Fiat's technology is "out of date."
Pieper said that the merged company would have to take a close look at Fiat's Italian factories where "a lot of clean-up work is required."
Asked about the future of PSA's German unit Opel, Pieper said the brand from Ruesselsheim outside Frankfurt stood out as "one of the bright lights," destined for a bright future.
(Production: Hakan Erdem, Frank Simon, Michele Sani) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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