EU Approves Banque PSA Financing, Demands Total Restructuring
After approving a $1.6 billion loan guarantee for PSA’s captive finance arm, the European Commission demanded a restructuring plan for all of PSA within six months.
Reuters quotes an EU spokesman as telling the French government
“We expect France to notify to us of a restructuring plan, not just for the banking arm but for the whole PSA group, because this aid also benefits the whole group,”
Government aid for Banque PSA was first proposed back in October, as it became difficult for the finance unit to borrow money due to the overall weakness of PSA itself. A bailout of Banque PSA was also seen as more palatable than providing aid to the car making unit.
Details of any potential restructuring are unclear, but the EU wants to make sure that PSA’s business will remain viable without any further state aid. Either way, PSA will be under the gun even further, as attempts to cut jobs have already raised the ire of France’s powerful labor unions and the current left-wing government.
Lacking the same profit sources as its French rival Renault (like low cost cars and exposure to healthy markets), PSA has been in the toilet financially, bleeding as much as 200 million euros per month. Even the new 208, France’s best-selling car last month, hasn’t been enough to help stem the tide.
More by Derek Kreindler
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Does anyone think that France will allow PSA to die?
Bailouts of G.M., Chrysler, and PSA may be good politics, but they are bad economics. Government should not reward bad management because they are punishing the companies that managed well. Every G.M. and Chrysler product sold damages Ford and the other companies that have earned the right to those sales. In essence,the sick have been have put among the well corrupting the marketplace. Let economic forces take their course. The survivors will take up the slack in employment and production, and the rest will go the way of Studebaker, Hudson and Nash. This is how the American economy grew and prospered. Don't mess with success.
If France still had an army and navy, it could solve a lot of Europe's problems by invading Belgium and rounding up the bureaucrats in Brussels. And to think Vienna actually WANTED them!
Perhaps Mitsubishi, which needs a D-class car for North America (with the demise of the Galant), should ink a deal to have Peugeot supply rebadged 508 sedans and station wagons with 2.3 litre engines. They're built in France. The new Galant. Then advertise the heck out of it, and expand the dealerships (perhaps by approaching prior Suzuki stores in areas without Mitsubishi representation). As long as the quality is good, the cars might sell in some sufficient number. It's not like Peugeot-Citroen don't already have a relationship with Mitsubishi - Mitsubishi had been supplying their SUVs for sale as Peugeot and Citroen (with specific front clips and trim etc) until recently. I think they may have been built in the now closed Nedcar factory. (Now PSA has their own SUVs I believe).