克莱斯勒和菲亚特的命运二人转
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欧洲市场深陷衰退，从来就不算强者的菲亚特快要溺水而亡，而这回轮到克莱斯勒向它抛出救生圈了。菲亚特现在拥有克莱斯勒58.5%的股份，而马尔乔内想要买下剩下的41.5%。在他已和本国政府达成协议的情况下，100%拥有克莱斯勒就能让他最终把两家公司的资产合并在一张报表上。克莱斯勒现在正在赚钱，而菲亚特则在烧钱，所以克莱斯勒赚来的现金实际上要用来养活菲亚特。 而让事情复杂化、进一步激起底特律怒火的是，马尔乔内想买的41.5%股份是属于联合汽车工会（UAW）志愿员工受益人协会信托基金（VEBA）的。这部分股份是2009年美国政府援救汽车厂商时赠与联合汽车工会用于支付退休员工的医保费用的。但对这部分股份的实际价值实际上双方意见存在分歧。联合汽车工会声称这些股份值115亿美元，而马尔乔内想付的钱则要少得多：只有46.8亿美元。 双方争执不下已让底特律的汽车工人们群情汹涌。工会成员们担心，如果达成有利于菲亚特的协议，就会让他们的医保费用面临被掏空的危险。实际上，只要一想到美国人的钱正用来救助一家意大利公司，一些人就会恨得咬牙切齿。知名博主彼得•德•洛伦佐最近曾经在博客里写道：“克莱斯勒是靠美国政府给的大把银子度过危机的，也是靠你我这些美国纳税人出的钱转危为安的，可马尔乔内现在居然要用克莱斯勒来养活一家日子快要过不下去、名叫菲亚特的公司。” 但在这场争论中的双方都忘了一个事实，在克莱斯勒公司破产案中不光是菲亚特尝到了甜头，联合汽车工会也得到了好处。事情的原委是这样的：一项分析称，克莱斯勒的首轮担保债权人仅获得了29%的偿付，第二轮担保债权人则分文未得。克莱斯勒的供应商也是两手空空。而按照法律规定，估计自己欠VEBA 88亿美元的联合汽车工会也应该空手而归。因为在有权索取偿付的各方中，它排在所有担保债权人之后。但拉特纳的团队所看的实际情况却并非如此。它后来把重组后的克莱斯勒55%的股份给了VEBA，再加上价值46亿美元的票据。 拉特纳指出，这些股份是由VEBA而非工会持有的，并且没有投票权。他在书中写道：“这些股份绝大部分都是没有投票权的。我们经过计算发现，联合汽车工会在医保福利上打了很大的折扣，至少有40%。所以说，联合汽车工会确实承受了痛苦和风险。” 特拉华州的法官将决定到底采用哪方的数字：马尔乔内的，还是工会的，或是两者中间的某个数字。不过他们都不应该觉得自己受了委屈：双方都已经获得了超出预期的价钱。 如果判决更偏向工会，那就会超出菲亚特的融资能力。不过，还是得把宝押在马尔乔内身上。作为一个训练有素的会计师，他对自己提出的数字了如指掌。他已经在很多场合证明过，自己是个令人生畏的谈判高手。而且他似乎下定决心要打造一个规模庞大的汽车帝国，在21世纪的市场上竞逐驰骋。 正如他上周向分析师和记者们所宣称的那样，“这次谈判结束后，不管我们是全球第六大还是第一大汽车厂商，都没什么关系。我们不是奔着排名去的。唯一有意义的是，作为一家联合公司，我们有足够的规模和覆盖面，可以称自己为一家真正的全球性汽车公司。” 希望他能如愿以偿。(财富中文网）译者：清远 |
With Europe deep in recession, Fiat, never a strong player to begin with, is drowning, and Chrysler is in the position of extending a life preserver. Fiat now owns 58.5% of Chrysler, and Marchionne wants to buy the remaining 41.5%. Owning 100% of Chrysler would allow him, under his agreement with the government, to finally integrate the two companies on one balance sheet. Chrysler is banking cash while Fiat is burning it, so Chrysler's cash would, in effect, be used to prop up Fiat. To complicate matters, and to further inflame Detroit passions, the remaining 41.5% that Marchionne wants to buy is owned by a UAW voluntary employee beneficiary association trust (VEBA). The stock was given to the UAW as part of the 2009 government bailout to pay for retiree health care expenses. But there is a difference of opinion about the value of those shares. The UAW trust says they are worth $11.5 billion. Marchionne wants to pay quite a bit less: $4.68 billion. The dispute has stirred emotions in Motown, where labor unionists fear that a settlement tilted toward Fiat will suck money out of their health care benefits. Indeed, the whole notion of American dollars bailing out an Italian company rankles some. Wrote popular blogger Peter De Lorenzo this week: "Gifted Chrysler by the U.S. Government and funded on the backs of you and me, the U.S. taxpayer, Marchionne is now using Chrysler to sustain that miserable excuse of a car company called Fiat." What's been forgotten in the controversy is that it wasn't only Fiat that got a sweet deal in the Chrysler bankruptcy; the UAW did too. Here's how it went: According to one analysis, Chrysler's first-line secured creditors got only 29 cents on the dollar; its second-line secured creditors got nothing. Neither did its suppliers By law, the UAW, which figured it was owed $8.8 billion for the VEBA, should have gotten stiffed too. Its claim came after all the secured creditors. But Rattner's team didn't see it that way. Instead it awarded the VEBA 55% of the shares in the reorganized Chrysler, along with a note for $4.6 billion. Rattner points out that the stock was held by the VEBA and not the union, and carried no voting rights. He goes on: "Most of the equity was unspoken for. We calculated that the UAW was taking a significant cut in its health care claim, at least 40%. Yes, the UAW accepted pain and risk." A judge in Delaware will decide whose numbers to use: Marchionne's or the union, or something in between. Neither side should be aggrieved; they are both well ahead of where they would have been if the chips had fallen just a bit differently. A ruling that falls closer to the union's claim would put it out of reach of Fiat's ability to finance. Still, you have to put your money on Marchionne. Having been trained as an accountant, he knows his numbers. He has proved on numerous occasions that he is a fearsome negotiator. And he seems determined to create an automotive enterprise with the scale to compete in the 21st century. As he told analysts and reporters this week, "Whether we're the sixth or the largest car company in the world as a result of all this, it really does not matter. We are not running to league tables here. The only thing that does matter is that we do have within the combined entity, sufficient mass and sufficient geographic coverage to call ourselves a global car company." Here's betting he will. |
