News about Fiat
57JagXKSS
03-13-2005, 10:03 PM
GM to pay $2 billion to end Fiat alliance; platform, other sharing likely to continue
Fiat and General Motors agreed last weekend to end all aspects of their 2000 alliance.
That includes canceling the put option that allowed Fiat group to force GM to buy Fiat Auto, unwinding the Fiat-GM joint venture in purchasing and powertrains and GM returning its remaining 10 percent share of Fiat Auto to Fiat group.
On the financial side, GM agreed to pay Fiat 1.56 billion euros ($2 billion) to end the relationship. Of that, 1 billion euros will be paid Monday, Feb. 14.
The remaining 559 million euros will be paid when the joint ventures are completely unwound, which is expected within 90 days.
GM will take an after-tax charge to earnings of approximately $840 million or $1.49 per fully diluted share.
When the Fiat-GM Powertrain (FGP) joint venture is dissolved within 90 days, both sides will regain complete ownership of the assets each originally contributed in July 2000.
During a transition period, FGP will continue to supply engines and transmissions to both companies so that their respective operations will not be disrupted.
As part of the settlement, GM also will also:
>>> own 50 percent of the Bielsko Biala, Poland, plant that manufactures 1.3-liter diesel engines, as well as 50 percent of the related intellectual property.
>>> co-own 1.9-liter JTD diesel engine common-rail technology and continue to supply most of its European requirements from the Fiat Auto plant in Pratola Serra, Italy. Despite co-owning the intellectual property rights, GM agreed not to manufacture JTD diesel engines outside Europe that would be shipped to Europe.
>>>continue to buy engineering support from Fiat Auto, Fiat Research Center and Elasis Research Center for the development of diesel technology.
As part of the settlement, Fiat Auto will also:
>>> co-own the intellectual property of the new M20-32 manual transmission.
>>> continue to leverage GM purchasing power by participating in GM's purchasing alliance program;
>>>buy gasoline engines from GM for use in China.
In addition, as part of the settlement, Fiat and GM can freely use, even with third party partners, the two common platforms they have developed. Those are:
>>> the so-called Premium platform. That will debut at the March Geneva auto show as the Alfa Romeo Brera and 159 sedan. GM has no application yet.
>>> the Small Car Component System (SCCS). The platform will debut in September at the Frankfurt auto show as the third-generation Fiat Punto. GM's version due in late 2006 will be the replacement Opel/Vauxhall Corsa.
Fiat also will have the same freedom to use GM's Epsilon platform. The first use will be the new Fiat Croma debuting at the Geneva auto show next month.
Fiat will still have access to economies of scale as part of GM's global purchasing alliance, but analysts said the 106-year-old carmaker would need to find new partners to cut costs and keep up investments for the future.
"The future is a bit uncertain. Without the joint ventures they won't have such huge cost savings, which could hit Fiat Auto's profitability in the short term," said one analyst.
Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said he wanted to forge new alliances in specific business areas to cut costs along the lines of Fiat's joint venture with Peugeot-Citroen in commercial and passenger vans.
Fiat Auto is aiming to return to profit in 2006 but is relying mostly on cost cuts, as it struggles to boost sales despite launching a raft of new models to woo back customers. It is currently burning through more than 1 billion euros of cash a year.
"Cash compensation from GM for terminating the put does not significantly improve Fiat's balance sheet yet increases the group's risk premium by retaining the cash-burning asset," Morgan Stanley analysts said.
They said GM's 1.56 billion euro payment was small compared to Fiat's roughly 5 billion euros in net liabilities.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the GM divorce was neutral for Fiat's non-investment grade rating of BB-. Moody's affirmed Fiat's credit ratings and said the short-term cash impact was positive.
For GM, the deal removes the threat of having to buy another unprofitable car maker while it battles to pull its European arm -- Opel, Vauxhall and Saab -- back to profit and deals with high U.S. healthcare costs and a possible downgrade of its debt rating to junk.
GM bought 20 percent of Fiat Auto in 2000 for $2.4 billion, but its stake was halved under a recapitalization which GM argued had invalidated the put. While another $2 billion makes Fiat a costly bet to dissolve, GM CEO Rick Wagoner said it was worth it.
"We needed scale in Europe to get costs down and we were able to do that working with Fiat," Wagoner told a conference call. "Frankly it's a fairly high return initiative for GM, admittedly not exactly the way we had foreseen it to play out."
- http://autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101812
Fiat and General Motors agreed last weekend to end all aspects of their 2000 alliance.
That includes canceling the put option that allowed Fiat group to force GM to buy Fiat Auto, unwinding the Fiat-GM joint venture in purchasing and powertrains and GM returning its remaining 10 percent share of Fiat Auto to Fiat group.
On the financial side, GM agreed to pay Fiat 1.56 billion euros ($2 billion) to end the relationship. Of that, 1 billion euros will be paid Monday, Feb. 14.
The remaining 559 million euros will be paid when the joint ventures are completely unwound, which is expected within 90 days.
GM will take an after-tax charge to earnings of approximately $840 million or $1.49 per fully diluted share.
When the Fiat-GM Powertrain (FGP) joint venture is dissolved within 90 days, both sides will regain complete ownership of the assets each originally contributed in July 2000.
During a transition period, FGP will continue to supply engines and transmissions to both companies so that their respective operations will not be disrupted.
As part of the settlement, GM also will also:
>>> own 50 percent of the Bielsko Biala, Poland, plant that manufactures 1.3-liter diesel engines, as well as 50 percent of the related intellectual property.
>>> co-own 1.9-liter JTD diesel engine common-rail technology and continue to supply most of its European requirements from the Fiat Auto plant in Pratola Serra, Italy. Despite co-owning the intellectual property rights, GM agreed not to manufacture JTD diesel engines outside Europe that would be shipped to Europe.
>>>continue to buy engineering support from Fiat Auto, Fiat Research Center and Elasis Research Center for the development of diesel technology.
As part of the settlement, Fiat Auto will also:
>>> co-own the intellectual property of the new M20-32 manual transmission.
>>> continue to leverage GM purchasing power by participating in GM's purchasing alliance program;
>>>buy gasoline engines from GM for use in China.
In addition, as part of the settlement, Fiat and GM can freely use, even with third party partners, the two common platforms they have developed. Those are:
>>> the so-called Premium platform. That will debut at the March Geneva auto show as the Alfa Romeo Brera and 159 sedan. GM has no application yet.
>>> the Small Car Component System (SCCS). The platform will debut in September at the Frankfurt auto show as the third-generation Fiat Punto. GM's version due in late 2006 will be the replacement Opel/Vauxhall Corsa.
Fiat also will have the same freedom to use GM's Epsilon platform. The first use will be the new Fiat Croma debuting at the Geneva auto show next month.
Fiat will still have access to economies of scale as part of GM's global purchasing alliance, but analysts said the 106-year-old carmaker would need to find new partners to cut costs and keep up investments for the future.
"The future is a bit uncertain. Without the joint ventures they won't have such huge cost savings, which could hit Fiat Auto's profitability in the short term," said one analyst.
Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said he wanted to forge new alliances in specific business areas to cut costs along the lines of Fiat's joint venture with Peugeot-Citroen in commercial and passenger vans.
Fiat Auto is aiming to return to profit in 2006 but is relying mostly on cost cuts, as it struggles to boost sales despite launching a raft of new models to woo back customers. It is currently burning through more than 1 billion euros of cash a year.
"Cash compensation from GM for terminating the put does not significantly improve Fiat's balance sheet yet increases the group's risk premium by retaining the cash-burning asset," Morgan Stanley analysts said.
They said GM's 1.56 billion euro payment was small compared to Fiat's roughly 5 billion euros in net liabilities.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the GM divorce was neutral for Fiat's non-investment grade rating of BB-. Moody's affirmed Fiat's credit ratings and said the short-term cash impact was positive.
For GM, the deal removes the threat of having to buy another unprofitable car maker while it battles to pull its European arm -- Opel, Vauxhall and Saab -- back to profit and deals with high U.S. healthcare costs and a possible downgrade of its debt rating to junk.
GM bought 20 percent of Fiat Auto in 2000 for $2.4 billion, but its stake was halved under a recapitalization which GM argued had invalidated the put. While another $2 billion makes Fiat a costly bet to dissolve, GM CEO Rick Wagoner said it was worth it.
"We needed scale in Europe to get costs down and we were able to do that working with Fiat," Wagoner told a conference call. "Frankly it's a fairly high return initiative for GM, admittedly not exactly the way we had foreseen it to play out."
- http://autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101812
97integrals
04-05-2005, 01:05 AM
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