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Report: Canada getting ready to sell GM stake

Filed under: Government/Legal, GM, Earnings/Financials, Canada

Canada readies to sell stake in GM.

Canada’s federal government and the government of the province of Ontario have started searching for an investment bank to sell the rest of their combined 140 million shares in General Motors, according to an unidentified source, Bloomberg reports. That represents a 10-percent stake up for sale. The news doesn’t come as a surprise because Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in December that Canada wanted to sell its shares of GM stock, a point that was reiterated yesterday by one of his spokespeople.

Canada invested $9.5 million for 175 million shares of GM’s stock in 2009 as part of the company’s government bailout. The automaker made an Initial Public Offering in November 2010, at which point Canada sold 35 million shares. The country currently is the third-largest GM shareholder, behind the US Treasury and GM-United Automobile Workers Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association. Two-thirds of Canada’s stake are held by the federal government and one-third by the Ontario government.

In addition to Canada’s move to sell its GM stock, the US Treasury also said in December that it planned to sell all of its stock in the next 15 months, reports Bloomberg. It seems to be a good time to sell, as the stock has gained 11 percent since the IPO and 27 percent so far this year.

Canada getting ready to sell GM stake originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 03 Aug 2013 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Porsche-Piech buy 10% stake in VW’s holding company

Filed under: Europe, Porsche, Volkswagen, Earnings/Financials, Middle East

F.K. Piech

In August, 2009, as the scuttled merger of Porsche and Volkswagen had gone bad and Porsche was backed up against the ropes, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAHSE) relinquished a ten-percent stake in itself to Qatar Holdings as well as options it held on 17 percent of VW shares. The sale meant that, for the first time since the founding of the company 61 years before, an entity outside the Porsche and Piech families had a say in the running of PAHSE.

Buying that ten-percent stake back returns full ownership to the two families, the holding company’s sole possession being ownership of 50.7 percent of VW’s common shares. The price paid wasn’t disclosed, but at market rates the purchase would be worth close to $1.25 billion. Qatar intends to hold onto the 17-percent stake it has in Volkswagen.

Porsche-Piech buy 10% stake in VW’s holding company originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Fiat to up stake in Chrysler to 30 percent

Filed under: Chrysler, Earnings/Financials, Fiat

Fiat badged Dodge Journey

Fiat currently owns 25 percent of Chrysler, but that stake will reportedly jump to 30 percent in the next couple weeks. Automotive News reports that the Italian automaker is weeks away from satisfying additional requirements needed to bump the ownership stake by another five percent.

Unnamed sources claim that Fiat has already met a requirement that states that Chrysler receives $1.5 billion of its revenue outside of North America. The next step is to offer Chrysler vehicles to 90 percent of Fiat’s Latin American dealers. Fiat will reportedly meet that goal by rebadging Chrysler vehicles as Fiats at Latin American dealerships. One vehicle that will reportedly receive the rebadge treatment is the Dodge Journey, which will be built in Mexico and renamed the Fiat Freemont. Fiat currently holds the largest share of the emerging Brazil market, with a substantial 22.3 percent share.

Fiat will receive another five percent of Chrysler by building a Fiat-based product in the U.S. that hits 40 miles per gallon or better. If Fiat wants to increase its share to an absolute majority of 51 percent, the automaker will need to fork over $1.14 billion by the end of the year. If the automaker waits until 2012, that number will jump to $1.37 billion.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

Report: Fiat to up stake in Chrysler to 30 percent originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fiat increases stake in Chrysler to 25%

Filed under: Chrysler, Fiat

Chrysler and Fiat logos

Fiat is seriously commited to rebuilding Chrysler, and to that end it’s increased its stake in the Michigan-based automaker by an additional five percent.

The reshuffled ownership breakdown still leaves the United Auto Workers as the largest shareholder at 63.5%, with Fiat’s stake now up to 25%, the U.S. Treasury Department retaining 9.2% and the Canadian government 2.3%.

The increased stake came with government approval as Chrysler meets certain performance parameters, in this case the production of the Fully Integrated Robotized Engine (FIRE) at its plant in Dundee, Michigan.

Fiat will have the opportunity to increase its stake by another five percent when it demonstrates growth in overseas markets, and again with the production of a 40 mpg vehicle in the United States. At that point Fiat will have had the opportunity to increase its stake to a maximum of 35%. Details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Chrysler]

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Fiat increases stake in Chrysler to 25% originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fiat to increase Chrysler stake to 51% ahead of IPO?

Filed under: Chrysler, Earnings/Financials, Fiat

According to Automotive News, Fiat may be looking to increase its stake in Chrysler from 20 percent to 51 percent before the Pentastar goes public. If true, that would mean that Fiat intends to repay Chrysler’s federal loans before their 2013 due date. Doing so would allow the Italian automaker to sink its teeth into its American property by an additional 16 percent.

Sergio Marchionne, who serves as the CEO of both Fiat and Chrysler, said that while he doesn’t know for certain whether he would move to have Fiat take over a larger portion of Chrysler, it is a possibility. The executive said that such a move would provide plenty of benefits for both automakers.

Fiat itself has been undergoing fairly substantial changes outside of its tie-up with Chrysler. The company just split into two different operations, with its automotive efforts flying under one banner and its industrial work sailing under another.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

Fiat to increase Chrysler stake to 51% ahead of IPO? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fiat reportedly set to raise stake in Chrysler

Filed under: Etc., Chrysler, Earnings/Financials, Fiat

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, has reportedly indicated that the Italian automaker is interested in raising its stake in the Auburn Hills automaker. Currently, Fiat owns 20 percent of Chrysler and it wants to raise that figure to 35 percent by the end of 2011. Fiat has had a strong third quarter, earning around $236 million.

According to the Detroit Free Press, in order to increase its ownership stake by 15 percent, Fiat has to hit three specific targets that are worth five percent apiece. The first goal is to launch the 1.4-liter MultiAir engine being built at Chrysler’s plant in Dundee, Michigan. That engine is slated to go into the upcoming Fiat 500.

Second on the task list is for Chrysler to produce a car that achieves 40 miles per gallon. Marchionne believes this vehicle will enter production towards the end of 2011. It will be a compact hatchback branded as a Dodge.

The final five percent will be earned when Chrysler increases its sales outside of the US. Specifically, it will focus sales efforts to increase volume in South America. Per Marchionne, this last objective will prove the most difficult because of the way Brazil regulates its dealer networks. In fact, Fiat is looking for alternative ways to earn the final five percent stake it seeks from Chrysler.

Thirty-five percent is a hefty piece of the Chrysler pie, but much more can be made available in the not-too-distant future. Once Chrysler is able to repay both the Canadian and U.S. governments for the $8 billion in loans it received, the Italian automaker will be able to raise its stake to 51 percent.

[Source: Detroit Free Press | Image: Massimo Pinca/AP]

Fiat reportedly set to raise stake in Chrysler originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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