After parting ways with Dongfeng Yueda Kia, dongfeng group wants to break away from the Stellantis group?
According to the latest news on January 21, Dongfeng Group announced that it intends to sell up to 40 million shares of Stellantis ordinary shares through its wholly-owned subsidiary Dongfeng Motor (Hong Kong) with a total value of 732 million euros (about 5.257 billion yuan). After the successful completion of the transaction, Dongfeng Group still holds a 3.2% stake in Stella Group.
Meanwhile, Dongfeng Motor (Hong Kong) has signed an agreement with BNP Paribas on January 20, which will look for buyers willing to take over the order as the exclusive global coordinator and bookrunner. Dongfeng Group has agreed not to sell its remaining shares in Stella during the 90-day lock-up period.
Stellantis Group was founded in October 2019 by the merger of PSA and FCA automotive groups at 50:50 to become the fourth largest group in the world, and on July 15, 2020, PSA and FCA Automotive Group officially announced the name of the new group after the merger of the two companies as Stellantis.
The Stellantis Group has 14 brands, including Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall of the PSA Group, as well as Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati and other brands of the FCA Group. The new group is expected to sell 8.7 million units a year, making it the world's fourth-largest automotive group after Volkswagen, Toyota motor and the Renault-Nissan alliance.
However, the combination of the two is not a strong union, more like a group for warmth. In 2019, both PSA and FCA sales in the Chinese market have fallen sharply. Gaqi FCA and DPCA are not selling as much as a year, and it is not surprising that a pair of difficult brothers and sisters have come together.
Dongfeng Group invested in PSA, 800 million euros knocked on the technical door?
Back on March 26, 2014, Mr. Varan, Chairman of the Management Committee of Peugeot Citroën Group, and Mr. Xu Ping, then Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dongfeng Motor Company, signed a final agreement to strengthen cooperation, and Dongfeng Motor Company will invest 800 million euros in the private placement of peugeot Citroen Group, accounting for 14% of the shares, officially becoming the largest shareholder alongside the French government and the Peugeot family.
Chinese auto brands reversed their stake in the joint venture brand and became the majority shareholder, which was an earth-shattering deal at the time. In the reports at that time, we can see such a content: PSA and Dongfeng Motor will establish a joint research and development center in China, and PSA also opens the door to technology transfer to Dongfeng. "All of our marketable technologies, Dongfeng can enjoy," Varan said.
There is no doubt that Dongfeng Group took this step precisely to master the problem of technology, which is the problem of card neck, and the agreement stipulates that all the technologies applied by PSA in European vehicles can be purchased by Dongfeng by paying a commission if it wants to have them. After that, the core components such as the power of many Dongfeng Group models came from this.
However, in December 2019, PSA Group signed a share repurchase agreement with Dongfeng Motor to repurchase 10 million shares of PSA Group held by Dongfeng Motor at a price of 16.385 euros (about 130.2 yuan) per share, with a total transaction value of 163.85 million euros (about 1.3 billion yuan).
In 2020, PSA Group announced that it would repurchase 10 million shares of PSA's common stock from Dongfeng Motor. The repurchased share price was EUR 16.385 per share, for a total purchase price of EUR 163.85 million (excluding related charges), or approximately RMB1.3 billion.
In January 2021, PSA Group merged with PSA and FCA to form Stella Group, and Dongfeng held 100,622,220 shares of PSA, with a shareholding ratio of 11.24%, which was converted into 175,283,907 shares of Stella, with a shareholding ratio of 5.62%.
The target shares of Stella Group were sold again, and the proceeds were intended to be used to support the main business of Dongfeng Group. Dongfeng Motor's annual sales in 2021 will reach 2.7751 million units, and its sales target for 2022 will be 3.471 million units. A few days ago, the Dongfeng high-end new energy off-road vehicle project, namely Dongfeng M Division, was officially established, positioning high-end electric off-road brand, facing personalized high-end user groups, and developing a new MORV electric off-road vehicle platform.
The new project factory has started construction on January 18, the project covers an area of 485 acres, including advanced intelligent manufacturing center, off-road base, headquarters office and commercial exhibition center three major sections. With a total construction area of 96,000 square meters, the new welding workshop, painting workshop, assembly workshop, test center and experience center, off-road experience track and test track and other supporting facilities. The project has a planned production capacity of 100,000 units and is scheduled to start production in 2023.
It can be seen that Dongfeng Group's withdrawal from Dongfeng Yueda Kia and its reduction in the shares of Stellantis Group are all accumulating strength for the development of independent brands. In the face of the tide of new energy vehicle development, independent brands are not lagging behind the joint venture brand, rather than "borrowing power" everywhere, it is better to rely on themselves and rely on themselves, only by mastering the core technology can they take the initiative and achieve overtaking in curves.