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Fiat takes major step towards global megagroup
AFP - Thursday, July 22
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Fiat takes major step towards global megagroup
MILAN (AFP) - – Fiat took a big step Wednesday towards the dream of its ambitious chief Sergio Marchionne to become a truly global player with board approval for a spin-off of its non-car activities.
The maverick chief executive is seen to be positioning the group to join the fray as major world automakers seek new alliances, a year and a half after orchestrating a tie-up with near-bankrupt US automaker Chrysler.
"It will be easier for Fiat to merge with other companies and the first that comes to mind obviously is Chrysler," said Umberto Bertele, chairman of Milan Politechnic's business school, of the restructuring.
Fiat shares jumped more than six percent on the Milan stock market at the news, causing a temporary suspension of trading.
The stock stood 6.07 percent higher at 9.605 euros, outpacing the broader market which was up 0.61 percent at around 1350 GMT.
Marchionne, credited with rescuing Fiat from its own crisis well before the global financial meltdown, moved quickly to take advantage of Chrysler's death spiral, negotiating a no-cash deal under which the Italian carmaker acquired an initial 20 percent stake in the US firm.
The Italian-Canadian also became Chrysler's chief executive in the deal, under which Fiat contributed its small-car and green technology and the US carmaker opened the door to its sprawling distribution network.
Marchionne has said the two companies combined would produce six million vehicles by 2014, up from four million today.
Analysts expect the new structure to help Fiat not only integrate with Chrysler but also to form other alliances as new players come onto the scene from emerging economies such as Russia and India.
The restructuring calls for truck maker Iveco, agricultural and construction machine manufacturer Case New Holland and a part of engine maker Fiat Powertrain Technologies to be part of a new group to be called Fiat Industrial.
The operation will leave a car-only Fiat with its own brand plus Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and its components and motor activities.
Fiat said the move would "provide strategic and financial clarity to both businesses and enable them to strategically develop independently of each other."
The change will also "allow for the proper valuation in the capital markets of these two businesses," Fiat said in a statement following the board meeting, which was held in Chrysler's home base of Detroit, Michigan.
Also Wednesday, the group announced a return to the black in the second quarter, posting a net profit of 113 million euros (145 million dollars) compared with a loss of 179 million euros in the same period last year.
In 2009, the group lost 848 million euros as the global auto industry was devastated by the world financial crisis. In the first quarter of 2010 it posted a net loss of 21 million euros.
Chrysler meanwhile posted a loss of 3.8 billion dollars for the period between June 10 last year -- when it left bankruptcy protection -- and December 31, but narrowed its 2010 first-quarter net loss to 197 million dollars from 2.5 billion dollars a year earlier.
Fiat, which assumed operational control of Chrysler in June 2009, will see its stake rise to 35 percent in two years, with an option to improve that to a controlling share once the US firm pays back its debt to the US government.
Buoyed by the second-quarter results and citing improved demand, Fiat said it would "very likely" revise its targets upwards once third-quarter results are in.
Current targets include annual turnover in excess of 50 billion euros and an operating profit of no more than 1.2 billion euros and a net result at or near the break-even point.
Fiat's reorganisation, first announced in April, will take effect on January 1, 2011, said the group, Italy's biggest private employer with a national workforce of some 80,000.
Shareholders are set to approve the operation at a September 16 general assembly.
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