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Rome, June 28 – Not even the pandemic slows down the plans of the Agnelli family, who confirms the timing of the merger with the French PSA. The agreement, signed last December, should be finalized by early 2021. Thus sanctioning the end of a bond – the one between Fiat before, and FCA now, with Italy – already for some time now at the minimum terms. Thus allowing the Turin dynasty to complete an “exit strategy” which will allow him to cultivate other interests. Starting from the information.
FCA-PSA merger by 2021
“Despite the huge challenges that have arisen due to the Covid-2019 emergency, I can confirm that the work done by our teams to complete the merger has continued at a rapid pace and we expect to achieve the goal of becoming a single company within the first quarter of next year, “he explained John Elkann, CEO of FCA, which has resumed most of its production activities in the last few days, which will also be followed by the reopening of the dealers shortly.
The Lambs want the dividend
How come all this haste to close, saying also confident of the good outcome of the negotiation with the EU Commission that has lit a beacon on the hypothesis of an excessive concentration of the new group in some market segments? The reason is soon to be said: from the merger – which is not an equal merger: in FCA-PSA, very simply, the French will command – an extra dividend of at least 5.5 billion is expected, of which 1.6 will end up at the Exor holding and, in cascade, another one at Giovanni Agnelli BV (all domiciled, it seems a bit the case, in Holland) which is the family safe.
Coincidence: the 5.5 billion are not very far from the 6.3 billion just obtained from FCA with a state guarantee, which would theoretically result in a ban on the distribution of dividends for at least one year. Condition that does not seem to apply to the FCA case: “The terms of the agreement with PSA are written in stone and bound”, Elkann explained last month. In short, the suspicion that the public guarantee goes to cover the extra coupon is there. In exchange for what?
Italy will be absent in the new group
The group has ensured that the newly obtained resources will be invested in Italy. The details of the merger speak however of self-styled “synergies” for 3.7 billion. Translated from the language: cuts. Where in France? Hard to believe: when it comes to protecting its industry, Paris knows how to teach others how it is in the world. In Germany, perhaps, at Opel (part of PSA since 2017)? Same as above. Guess who’s left?
That Fiat had already abdicated any semblance of “Italianness” it is not news. For years the tax office has been in London, the registered office in Amsterdam. And the merger with Chrysler – which gave birth to the FCA group – did not move the axis from America to Italy, rather it was the opposite. The fact remains that on the peninsula there are not a few plants and tens of thousands of workers, including direct and induced employees, which are worth something like over 5% of our GDP. Still for how long, one wonders?
Filippo Burla
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