Chrysler Goes Public

Chrysler last traded publicly in 2007 when it was owned by Daimler, and it has not traded as a stand-alone company since 1998. Fiat began acquiring shares of Chrysler in 2009 as the U.S. and Canadian governments backed the rescue of the carmaker in the midst of the Great Recession. The Italian automaker ended up with about 59% of Chrysler and a union pension fund owned the rest. Chrysler finally acquired all the Chrysler shares in January of this year and immediately began making plans for a public listing.

The new company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, will be domiciled in the Netherlands, trade in New York, and build more Fiat cars in Italy. Fiat Chrysler’s CEO Sergio Marchionne has plans to spend about $63 billion on a five-year business plan that includes boosting sales of Chrysler’s Jeep brand and bringing back Fiat’s Alfa Romeo luxury brand. Marchionne has said that once New York trading begins, FCA will hit up the bond market for capital. He has rejected the idea of issuing more stock, at least in the near term.

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Chrysler’s Jeep and Ram pickup truck brands have led a resurgence at Chrysler, and the strategic plan is to improve on that performance. The new Jeep Cherokee has led the sales improvement this year, up 45% through September. Ram pickup sales are up 24% year-to-date. Total company sales are up nearly 15% year-to-date, and September sales rose nearly 14% compared with September of 2013.

Chrysler sold a total of around 4.4 million vehicles worldwide last year, well behind WardsAuto’s top three: Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) with 9.9 million units sold, Volkswagen with 9.73 million units sold and General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) will 9.71 million units sold. By 2018 Marchionne wants FCA to sell 7 million units.

Marchionne and Fiat Chairman John Elkann are expected to ring the closing bell in New York on Monday, the new company’s first day of trading. Elkann is the great-great-grandson of Gianni Agnelli, Fiat’s founder. The Agnelli family will control nearly 50% of the voting power of Fiat Chrysler through its Netherlands-based holding company Exor.

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