Tag: buyout

Report: Court ruling to delay Fiat’s Chrysler buyout?

Filed under: Government/Legal, Fiat

Fiat logo

We’ve already reported on the attempts of Fiat to purchase the remaining 41.5-percent stake in Chrysler, currently owned by the United Auto Workers’ VEBA healthcare trust. And while the issues still aren’t resolved, Fiat has received both a bit of good news and a bit of bad news from a Delaware judge.

The good news is that the court ruled in favor on two key arguments of Fiat’s, relating to what is a fair price for the Chrysler shares. The rulings essentially slash half a billion dollars off the price of the 54,000 shares owned by VEBA, according to a report from Reuters.

The bad news is that this makes the UAW an even more difficult opponent in negotiations. Its VEBA fund is meant to cover ever escalating retiree healthcare costs, so naturally, the UAW wants to get as much money as possible. Losing a big chunk of cash isn’t likely to make the union more cooperative.

In the end, it looks like it’s going to come down to one of two options. The rulings could encourage the two to settle matters out of court, which would likely be the fastest and most beneficial for all parties involved. The alternative is a 12- to 18-month trial, in which Fiat needs to prove that its offering for the VEBA shares is fair, while the UAW needs to convince the court that it requires a certain degree of funds to cover its healthcare obligations. We’ll keep you updated.

Court ruling to delay Fiat’s Chrysler buyout? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 Aug 2013 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ferrari and CVC Capital join the F1 buyout debate

Filed under: Motorsports, Ferrari, Fiat

Bernie Ecclestone at Ferrari's Wroom event

Unlike most business deals, which are negotiated behind closed doors with the general populace happily unaware, the effort to buy out the commercial rights to Formula One has been very public.

First came the rumors that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and a consortium of investors were interested in acquiring the rights from CVC Capital Partners, the current owners. Then their representative, Bernie Ecclestone, dismissed the reports offhand, insisting that the sport was not for sale. Following that, Exor (the Italian investment arm of the Agnelli family, which controls the Fiat empire) revealed itself to be the unnamed second party to Murdoch’s consortium, confirming that a bid is in the making. Now, CVC and Ferrari have responded with statements of their own.

For CVC’s part, the salient point in the press release (which you can read after the jump) is that while F1 is not currently for sale, “CVC recognises the quality of Exor and News Corporation as potential investors,” leading to speculation that News Corp and Exor could potentially buy part of the sport, if not the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Ferrari has responded to what it calls “many requests from the media wanting to know Ferrari’s opinion on this matter,” declaring that they are “not directly involved” in the bid and stressing “the importance of ensuring the long term stability and development of Formula 1.” While Maranello can deny being directly involved, the notion that the Agnelli/Elkann family would look into acquiring F1 without consulting their own team (headed by longtime confidant Luca di Montezemolo) is a bit much to swallow.

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Ferrari and CVC Capital join the F1 buyout debate originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 08 May 2011 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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