FCA + Groupe Renault = nope

Just got the release:

FCA withdraws merger proposal to Groupe Renault

June 5, 2019 , London - IMPORTANT NOTICE
 
By reading the following release, you agree to be bound by the following limitations and qualifications: This press release is for informational purposes only and is not intended to and does not constitute an offer or invitation to exchange or sell or solicitation of an offer to subscribe for or buy, or an invitation to exchange, purchase or subscribe for, any securities, any part of the business or assets described herein, or any other interests or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction in connection with the proposed transaction or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law. This press release should not be construed in any manner as a recommendation to any reader of this press release.
 
This press release is not a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other offering document for the purposes of Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of November 4th, 2003, as amended, in particular, by Directive 2010/73/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of November 24th, 2010, as amended and as implemented in each member State of the European Economic Area and under French and Dutch law.
 
An offer of securities in the United States pursuant to a business combination transaction will only be made, as may be required, through a prospectus which is part of an effective registration statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.  You may obtain copies of all documents filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction, documents incorporated by reference, and FCA’s SEC filings at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.
 
The Board of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (“FCA”) (NYSE: FCAU / MTA: FCA), meeting this evening under the Chairmanship of John Elkann, has resolved to withdraw with immediate effect its merger proposal made to Groupe Renault.

FCA remains firmly convinced of the compelling, transformational rationale of a proposal that has been widely appreciated since it was submitted, the structure and terms of which were carefully balanced to deliver substantial benefits to all parties. However it has become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully.

FCA expresses its sincere thanks to Groupe Renault, in particular to its Chairman and its Chief Executive Officer, and also to the Alliance partners at Nissan Motor Company and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, for their constructive engagement on all aspects of FCA’s proposal.

FCA will continue to deliver on its commitments through the implementation of its independent strategy.

My first reaction to this news was "damn, now I have to get rid of the idea of a Hellcat Fiat 500". Obviously I realized that Fiat and Chrysler are already on the same side, which begs the question, why haven't we seen a Hellcat 500 yet?

So that's means no new Renaults in mainland NA?

Well that's kind of a pisser, ain't it.

Clearly, this is not a press release about synergies or the future of the automobile.  This is a press release designed to comment on, and/or affect in some way, "the political conditions in France."  Since I have more than enough to do trying to keep up with the political conditions in Canada, I have no idea what Mr. Elkann hopes will happen in Paris now that he has turned on the spotlight.

I won’t get excited Until I see a new Clio v6 sold in the states. 

So the remaining AMC execs in FCA convinced the people in charge that a Renault takeover wasn't a good idea? Took them long enough...

In reply to Stealthtercel :

I'm not super current on French politics, but I think it's got less to do with traditional political environment and much more to do with the fact that the French government is Renault's largest shareholder, and they didn't want to sign off on a huge merger if Nissan (Renault's unwilling partner) wasn't fully onboard.

The Renault-Mitsubishi-Nissan alliance is a drama filled mess. Nissan is a larger company than Renault, but Renault (and the French gov) own a larger stake of Nissan, and have more voting rights than Nissan does in Renault. So it's an unequal partnership and Nissan isn't thrilled about being controlled by a partner that's both smaller and influenced by a foreign government. With Nissan's current CEO situation up in the air, many think they'll try to dissolve the alliance with Renault, or renegotiate to more favorable terms. Adding FCA as another partner would only dilute their current percentage of ownership/influence, so Nissan was never really on board with the merger under current terms. Apparently, the Nissan members with voting rights were not on board for multiple reasons. If Nissan isn't on board, and might back out completely then the French gov has reservations about a $40 Billion merger and gets cold feet. There were way too many moving parts (4 major companies, 4 countries, etc) for it to work out smoothly.

That's the reason why Bloomberg thinks its a good idea for Nissan to drop out- they're in a bad position brought about by mediocrity, and with so many problems after Ghosn was removed it would likely be better for them to go it alone as a company, like someone needing to "find themselves" after a long relationship breaks up.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

A conspiracy theorist could argue that people within Nissan might have wanted to separate from Renault for awhile, and might've helped the Ghosn thing along a little as he was attempting to strengthen the alliance rather than emancipate Nissan.