Fiat-Chrysler to see New York stock market listing in October
Fiat bought out Chrysler at the beginning of 2014, now both operating as one company. Marchionne wants to put the two under one Dutch-registered company with the name of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), meant to make its way onto the U.S. listing as he needs to get financial help worth of 48 billion euro for a five-year expansion plan.
Marchionne counts on the merger and the listing to help pave the way for a relaunch of the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands, to export Jeeps globally and also to take these three to Asian markets, where the group is currently not doing so well.
"All decision on any capital increase will be taken by the board of FCA at the end of October", the CEO said, adding that the U.S. markets are going really well at the moment.
While Fiat had 18.5 billion euro in cash at the end of June, it also had 32 billion euro in debt, with its financial costs being high and its margins decaying. According to Marchionne, the world’s no. 7 auto group will only make financing decisions after the FCA would be created. The merger plan could have failed if the auto maker was asked to pay more than 500 million euro to dissenting investors.