Chrysler News: Fiat and UAW Reach A Deal, Takes Full Control Of Chrysler

[William Maley]

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The first day of 2014 brings some good news to Fiat. The company announced that it and the UAW's VEBA Trust have reached a deal to purchase the remaining 41.46 percent stake of Chrysler.

The terms of deal will see Fiat paying the VEBA trust a total of $4.35 billion. $3.65 billion of that will go towards the remaining stake. Also, Fiat will pay the trust $700 million annually over the course of the next four years.

“In the life of every major organization and its people, there are defining moments that go down in the history books. For Fiat and Chrysler, the agreement just reached with the VEBA is clearly one of those moments,” said Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.

Fiat says the deal is expected to happen on January 20th.

Source: Chrysler

Press Release is on Page 2

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Chrysler Group Announces Agreement With UAW Calling for Contributions to VEBA Trust and Also Announces a Special Distribution

January 1, 2014 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - Chrysler Group and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (the “UAW”) have agreed to a memorandum of understanding to supplement Chrysler Group’s existing collective bargaining agreement. Under the MoU, Chrysler Group will provide additional contributions to the VEBA Trust of an aggregate of $700 million in four equal annual installments. The initial payment will be made on closing of a transaction in which the VEBA Trust will sell to Fiat North America, one of Fiat’s wholly owned subsidiaries, all of the VEBA Trust’s equity interest in Chrysler. Additional payments of $175 million will be payable on each of the next three anniversaries of the initial payment. Chrysler Group expects to fund the initial contribution to the VEBA Trust from available cash on hand.

In consideration for these contributions, the UAW will agree to certain commitments to continue to support the industrial operations at Chrysler Group and the further implementation of the Fiat-Chrysler alliance, including to use best efforts to cooperate in the continued roll-out of Fiat-Chrysler World Class Manufacturing programs, actively participate in benchmarking efforts associated with implementation of these programs across all of Fiat-Chrysler manufacturing sites to ensure objective performance assessments and provide for proper application of WCM principles and actively assist in the achievement of the Group’s long-term business plan.

The Chrysler Group Board of Directors has also determined to support the declaration and payment by Chrysler Group of a special distribution in an aggregate amount of approximately $1,900 million,1 subject to the Board completing its diligence and receiving independent assurance regarding the distribution payment capacity of Chrysler Group, a process that management expects will be completed on or before January 20, 2014

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[regfootball]

from the get go I thought it was bull$h! that the tzar decided we needed to sh-tcan pontiac and saturn but keep chrysler so fiat could ultimately do this.

that said, it's probably better for Chrysler's position in the US now, otherwise they would still need to be put out to pasture.

[Drew Dowdell]

Looks like the want to move the headquarters to Europe.... looking for more details.

[G. David Felt]

On the second page, who is the 1,900 million for? not clear at all.

Lots of additional good info from the web.

Forbes story says Marchionne has stated that with the merger, a new stock might be issued on the New York Stock exchange rather than in Italy and the new world headquarters might even be based in the US.

Reuters states that now that the two companies will become one, 2.5 billion of the immediate cash payment will come from the Chrysler 11.5 billion cash horde that Fiat could not touch and that only 1.5 billion will come from available Fiat cash.

Sounds like Fiat never really had the cash to purchase Chrysler.

Interesting that Businessweek.com states that multiple banks put Chrysler over all value at between 10-11 billion making the UAW stake worth 4.15 billion. With cash on hand, this seemed to force the 4 years of 700 million payments. Very interesting.

I like the statement that business week has on their story where they quote the following "The Unified ownership structure will now allow us to fully execute our vision of creating a global automaker that is truly unique in terms of mix of experience, perspective and knowhow, a solid and open organization that will ensure all employees a challenging and rewarding environment," Marchionne said in a statement.

While it is sad to see an American company change hands to out of the country ownership, this very well could become more interesting. Either Chrysler will grow to truly be a global power house like Toyota and GM or the CEO will cause it to fail just like he has with his own Italian brands. IMHO.

[Blake Noble]

Looks like the want to move the headquarters to Europe.... looking for more details.

I'm going to agree with Allpar's assessment here.

From Allpar:

Many observers believe that the purchase of CNH (Case New Holland) and its merger with Fiat Industrial will provide a template for Chrysler’s organization in the future. The tax headquarters of the combined company is likely to be in a country with minor or no corporate taxes, which could include the Netherlands or even the United Kingdom (which only taxes companies based on revenue raised domestically, a small share of Chrysler and Fiat’s income). The actual headquarters of the combined outfit is likely to stay in Italy, while Chrysler will continue to be run from the CTC in Auburn Hills and Chrysler House in Detroit.

Edited January 4, 2014 by black-knight