FCA-PSA: a French shareholder fund criticizes the merger projectPhitrust holds a stake of less than 1% in Peugeot
(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan, June 22 - Phitrust, an investment fund which holds a minority stake in Psa, criticized the merger plan of the French automotive group with FCA, judging the transaction as unbalanced. Since the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic exploded, "the PSA group has shown its resistance thanks to its favorable financial situation and good cost management. It has been different for FCA, whose financial balance is appeared more fragile, he indicated the fund in a note, released before the PSA shareholders' meeting, scheduled for next ThursdayPhitrust believes that the situation of the two groups is not such as to "justify a 50/50 merger", claiming that it was not already last December. The fund, which holds less than 1% of Psa's capital, launched an appeal to the other minority shareholders, asking to reject - at the meeting - 4 proposals relating to the commitments made by the three major shareholders of the group (Peugeot family , Bpifrance and DongFengs) to support the merger with FCA according to the initial scheme. However, Phitrust himself acknowledges that the outcome of this vote is not binding, explaining however that the merger will have to be approved at the end by a shareholders' meeting.Red-apprehended(RADIOCOR) 22-06-20 19:32:46 (0535) 5 NNNN