Fiat SpA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said he's pulling out all the stops to build U.S. investor interest ahead of a listing in New York later this year after a merger with Chrysler Group LLC.
The new company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, will begin trading in New York in the first two weeks of October, with the exact date dependent on technical matters currently being addressed, Marchionne said in an interview in Basildon, England.
Chrysler's rebound from bankruptcy is central to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' appeal to investors, with its "human-interest" angle, according to the CEO, who is spending about one-third of his time in the U.S. and 25 percent in Fiat's native Italy. Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler reported increased U.S. sales of 17 percent in May, faster than predicted by analysts, as demand for Jeep sport-utility vehicles surged 58 percent.
"The Chrysler story is one investors have followed from the beginning," he said. "We were the poor kids, Cinderella at the ball. People in the U.S. actually like that. They like what happened. We paid all the money back, and it was clean."
Marchionne said Fiat and the CNH Industrial NV business -- which makes New Holland and Case tractors and Iveco trucks and is already listed in New York -- must work to lift liquidity.
"We need to spend time talking with investors to get them buying in Europe and trading in the U.S.," he said at CNH's United Kingdom base. "You've got to see them all more than once, spend a day in Boston, whatever. It's going to take more than a year, but Chrysler is a household name in the U.S., and that helps."
Fiat bought full control of Chrysler in January, with the merger part of Marchionne's decade-long effort to turn the Turin-based company into a carmaker big enough to challenge General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp.
Fiat plans to move its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange after shareholders meet to approve the combination in the third quarter. The Italian company's board formally signed off on the formation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles earlier this week.
Fiat plans to raise as much as $5.44 billion by issuing new bonds by the end of 2015, providing flexibility to refinance debt as it implements the merger, it said Sunday.
A plan to expand Alfa Romeo requires the upscale brand to establish its credibility "one car at a time," with the first new model now a year away, Marchionne said.
"We have to have a car that is on a par with, if not better than, the German cars in powertrain and handling, and that's also a great-looking car," he said.
CNH CEO Richard Tobin said there's no prospect of a long-term slump in demand for agricultural vehicles in Brazil, where sales have declined. The company has increased investment budgets in India and China, he said, with the latter particularly "ripe in terms of mechanization."
Information for this article was contributed by Tommaso Ebhardt of Bloomberg News.
Business on 06/20/2014