克萊斯勒和菲亞特的命運二人轉
|
????歐洲市場深陷衰退，從來就不算強者的菲亞特快要溺水而亡，而這回輪到克萊斯勒向它拋出救生圈了。菲亞特現在擁有克萊斯勒58.5%的股份，而馬爾喬內想要買下剩下的41.5%。在他已和本國政府達成協議的情況下，100%擁有克萊斯勒就能讓他最終把兩家公司的資產合并在一張報表上。克萊斯勒現在正在賺錢，而菲亞特則在燒錢，所以克萊斯勒賺來的現金實際上要用來養活菲亞特。 ????而讓事情復雜化、進一步激起底特律怒火的是，馬爾喬內想買的41.5%股份是屬于聯合汽車工會（UAW）志愿員工受益人協會信托基金（VEBA）的。這部分股份是2009年美國政府援救汽車廠商時贈與聯合汽車工會用于支付退休員工的醫保費用的。但對這部分股份的實際價值實際上雙方意見存在分歧。聯合汽車工會聲稱這些股份值115億美元，而馬爾喬內想付的錢則要少得多：只有46.8億美元。 ????雙方爭執不下已讓底特律的汽車工人們群情洶涌。工會成員們擔心，如果達成有利于菲亞特的協議，就會讓他們的醫保費用面臨被掏空的危險。實際上，只要一想到美國人的錢正用來救助一家意大利公司，一些人就會恨得咬牙切齒。知名博主彼得?德?洛倫佐最近曾經在博客里寫道：“克萊斯勒是靠美國政府給的大把銀子度過危機的，也是靠你我這些美國納稅人出的錢轉危為安的，可馬爾喬內現在居然要用克萊斯勒來養活一家日子快要過不下去、名叫菲亞特的公司。” ????但在這場爭論中的雙方都忘了一個事實，在克萊斯勒公司破產案中不光是菲亞特嘗到了甜頭，聯合汽車工會也得到了好處。事情的原委是這樣的：一項分析稱，克萊斯勒的首輪擔保債權人僅獲得了29%的償付，第二輪擔保債權人則分文未得。克萊斯勒的供應商也是兩手空空。而按照法律規定，估計自己欠VEBA 88億美元的聯合汽車工會也應該空手而歸。因為在有權索取償付的各方中，它排在所有擔保債權人之后。但拉特納的團隊所看的實際情況卻并非如此。它后來把重組后的克萊斯勒55%的股份給了VEBA，再加上價值46億美元的票據。 ????拉特納指出，這些股份是由VEBA而非工會持有的，并且沒有投票權。他在書中寫道：“這些股份絕大部分都是沒有投票權的。我們經過計算發現，聯合汽車工會在醫保福利上打了很大的折扣，至少有40%。所以說，聯合汽車工會確實承受了痛苦和風險。” ????特拉華州的法官將決定到底采用哪方的數字：馬爾喬內的，還是工會的，或是兩者中間的某個數字。不過他們都不應該覺得自己受了委屈：雙方都已經獲得了超出預期的價錢。 ????如果判決更偏向工會，那就會超出菲亞特的融資能力。不過，還是得把寶押在馬爾喬內身上。作為一個訓練有素的會計師，他對自己提出的數字了如指掌。他已經在很多場合證明過，自己是個令人生畏的談判高手。而且他似乎下定決心要打造一個規模龐大的汽車帝國，在21世紀的市場上競逐馳騁。 ????正如他上周向分析師和記者們所宣稱的那樣，“這次談判結束后，不管我們是全球第六大還是第一大汽車廠商，都沒什么關系。我們不是奔著排名去的。唯一有意義的是，作為一家聯合公司，我們有足夠的規模和覆蓋面，可以稱自己為一家真正的全球性汽車公司。” ????希望他能如愿以償。(財富中文網）????譯者：清遠 |
????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. |
