PSA chief executive Carlos Tavares says that his company’s $50 billion merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will go forward as planned and deliver synergies of at least 3.7 billion euros ($4.2 billion).
“The merger with FCA is the best among the solutions to cope with the crisis and its uncertainties,” said the PSA boss, who also stated that this deal has become more vital than ever given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, reports Autonews Europe.
“The timetable of the merger with FCA is being strictly respected,” he said, while adding that the previously mentioned projected synergies of 3.7 billion euros from the deal were actually the “floor”.
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Tavares also played down the EU’s antitrust investigation of his company’s merger, saying that he was confident it would all be finalized in the first quarter of 2021 “at the latest”. Meanwhile, EU antitrust regulators began their four-month investigation into the deal last week, claiming that it could lead to negative ramifications in the small van segment across 14 EU countries and Britain.
Neither PSA nor FCA offered concessions to alleviate these concerns while the issue was still in a preliminary review stage.
The PSA CEO then said that the “time has not come to discuss this issue,” when asked if the terms of the merger could be revised to reflect the downturn of the entire car industry on a global scale.
Still, one aspect of the merger has already been revised. Back in May, the two companies said that they would not pay their planned ordinary dividend on 2019 results, blaming the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
