27.12.2002 FIAT SELL GM STAKE AND AGREE SALE OF 51% OF FIDIS TO CREDITOR BANKS
|
| Fiat have agreed to sell
their stake in General Motors, fractionally under 6%, for a price around
US$1.16 billion. The 32.05 million shares were aquired by Fiat in an equity
swap with the US giant carmaker General Motors which took up 20% of Fiat
Spa along with an option to buy Fiat from January 2004. GM recently wrote
down almost all its 20% holding.
Fiat would not identify the institution that had purchased the stake, but insiders pointed to it being Merrill Lynch, the investment bank that has been advising Fiat on its restructuring. The sale will not affect the option requiring GM to purchase the remaining 80% of Fiat. Last week Fiat also sold a 51% stake in Fidis, the customer financing arm, a move that will further reduce net debt. The stake went to four of Fiat's creditor banks, Capitalia, Sanpaolo IMI, UniCredito and IntesaBci. The move, for sometime under negociation, was a requirement of the banks summer loan to keep the group afloat. |
| 21.12.2002: FIAT ANNOUNCE SALE
OF STAKE IN GENERAL MOTORS
Fiat S.p.A. ("Fiat") announced today that it has sold approximately 32.05 million shares of $1-2/3 Par Value common stock of General Motors Corporation ("GM"), representing Fiat’s entire stake in GM for a total consideration of approximately US$ 1.16 billion. The shares were sold to a leading investment bank who acquired them in the ordinary course of its capital market activities and not as a strategic investment. Fiat and the investment bank have simultaneously entered into an equity swap with a notional amount equivalent to the full proceeds from the sale of the shares in order to hedge Fiat exposure under all of the outstanding 3.25% Guaranteed Exchangeable Notes due 2007 issued earlier this year by its subsidiary Fiat Finance Luxembourg Societe Anonyme. These transactions were fully reviewed with GM prior to being executed and will have no impact on the industrial relationships or contractual arrangements between Fiat and GM. This transaction will allow Fiat to substantially improve the net financial position of the Group. |
| 21.12.2002: FIAT AGREE SALE OF
51% OF FIDIS TO CREDITOR BANKS
Fiat and the Banks signatories of the Frame Agreement of May 27, 2002 (Capitalia, IntesaBCI, SanPaolo IMI and Unicredito) have defined the text of the agreement for the sale of 51% of the European activities of Fidis Retail. The text will be subject to approval by the competent authorities in January after the finalization and definitive fine-tuning of the relevant aspects. The closing of the agreement is expected for the first quarter of 2003 once the necessary clearance has been granted. As a result of this sale, Fiat Auto will cash in proceeds in line with the consolidated accounting value of the stake sold, and the gross indebtedness of the Fiat Group will decrease by about 6 billion euros. |
 |
| <<< return to news index |