飛雅特終於拿下克萊斯勒
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2013/1/17
2014-01-03 Web only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/luckytom/ |
義大利的飛雅特和美國汽車勞工工會（UAW）出乎意料之外地於元旦發表一份聲明，讓飛雅特得以完全掌控其美國盟友克萊斯勒。這是飛雅特及克萊斯勒執行長馬奇翁（Sergio Marchionne）的勝利；他一直希望能讓兩間公司合併，但最近幾個月也開始有人擔心，要是馬奇翁無法與持有克萊斯勒股份的UAW退休人員醫療基金（VEBA）達成協議，這個跨大西洋聯盟或許會解體。
工會持有41.5％的克萊斯勒股份，由於雙方在價格上的岐見極大，可能會迫使克萊斯勒首次公開上市；馬奇翁曾警告，那會讓兩間企業難以合作。
飛雅特於2009年取得20％的克萊斯勒股份，並於隔年達成政府設定的條件、支付克萊斯勒餘下的援助貸款後增加持股。依照昨天的協議，飛雅特將支付UAW退休人員基金17.5億美元，克萊斯勒也會支付19億美元；此外，克萊斯勒還會在合併完成後，分4年支付7億美元給VEBA。
此協議的金額超出飛雅特原先的期望，但工會原本要求的金額亦超過50億美元。消息來源指出，工會可能是感覺到市場對首次公開上市反應平平，才決定降低價碼。
克萊斯勒為底特律三大車商中規模最小，飛雅特則是一家身陷困境的歐洲企業，分析師指出，此協議可能會是兩家公間轉型為全球重要勢力的關鍵。不過，成功並非必然；IHS Automotive的布林利（Stephanie Brinley）警告，接下來的問題就是，該如何結合兩間弱公司並創造一間強而有力的公司。飛雅特的歐洲銷售為本世代最低，在重要的拉丁美洲市場亦十分掙扎；克萊勒斯的現金有助飛雅特運作，但長期來看，飛雅特─克萊斯勒必須將年產量增至約600萬輛，並推出更多高階車款，才能與通用、豐田和福斯對抗。
兩車公司已經將產品研發等重要業務合併，例如換上蘭吉雅（Lancia）品牌的克萊斯勒產品，就為蘭吉雅注入了新活力。以飛雅特車台為基礎的產品，亦增加了克萊斯勒的品項，其中之一即為入選北美年度卡車決選名單的新款Jeep Cherokee運動休旅車，要是能夠獲勝，應該會讓馬奇翁眼中的未來更受人肯定。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
Fiat at last buys Chrysler
A new start
for the new year
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: January 03, 2014
Jan 2nd 2014, 8:15 by P.E. | DETROIT
In an unexpected deal on New Year's Day, Italy's Fiat and America's
United Auto Workers union (UAW) announced an agreement that will give the
Italian carmaker complete control of its American ally, Chrysler.
The settlement is a personal victory for Sergio Marchionne, the chief
executive of both Fiat and Chrysler, who had hoped to complete the merger of
the two companies that was set in motion when Fiat helped pull Chrysler out of
bankruptcy in 2009. In recent months there had been concerns that the
transatlantic alliance might come apart if Mr Marchionne could not reach a deal
with Chrysler's minority stakeholder, the UAW's retiree health-care fund,
commonly known as VEBA.
It had seemed increasingly likely that a sharp disagreement over the
price of the union's 41.5% stake would force a Chrysler IPO, something that Mr
Marchionne warned would make it difficult for the two companies to work as an
integrated whole.
Fiat initially acquired a 20% stake in Chrysler in 2009. It increased
its stake in the following years by meeting government-set hurdles and then by
paying off Chrysler's remaining bail-out loans. Under the terms of yesterday's
agreement, Fiat will pay the UAW retiree fund $1.75 billion from its own bank
account, and Chrysler will chip in another $1.9 billion. Chrysler also agreed
to pay the VEBA an additional $700m in four $175m annual installments after the
merger is completed.
The settlement is larger than Fiat had originally hoped but the union
was originally demanding more than $5 billion for its Chrysler holding. Sources
say the UAW may have decided to lower its price after sensing little support
from financial markets for the proposed IPO, which it was forcing on Mr
Marchionne. Expressing strong "emotion" with the prospect of a full
merger within reach, Mr Marchionne and Fiat's chairman John Elkann (who sits on
the board of The Economist's parent company), e-mailed employees of the two
companies asking them to "remain united" to make Fiat-Chrysler
"a model of speed and efficiency."
Analysts suggest that the deal will prove critical to transforming both
Chrysler, the smallest of Detroit's Big Three carmakers, and Fiat, a struggling
European company, into a true global powerhouse. But its success is far from
certain, cautions Stephanie Brinley, of IHS Automotive. "That's the next
issue," she says, "how do you take two weak players and create one
strong player?" Fiat's sales in Europe are the lowest in a generation and
it is struggling in its vital Latin American market. In October it slashed its
profit forecast for 2013. The cash churned out by a profitable Chrysler will
help to keep it going, but over the longer term Fiat-Chrysler must increase
production to around 6m vehicles a year and produce more premium cars if it
wants to be in the same league as General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen.
As Mr Marchionne and Mr Elkann noted in their employee e-mail, the two
carmakers have already merged important operations such as product development.
Rebadged Chrysler products have fleshed out the European Lancia line, for
example, and platforms based on Fiat products are allowing Chrysler to expand
its offerings. One of those, the new Jeep Cherokee sport-utility vehicle, is a
finalist for North American Truck of the Year, a victory that could lend
credibility to Mr Marchionne's grand vision.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2014
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