What's the news?
It's been about two weeks since the rumblings began, but today it has been confirmed - the PSA Group has purchased GM's Opel (and, by extension, Vauxhall) brand from the American giant, as well as its European Financial operations, in a deal worth €2.2 billion.
Valuing the car-making side of the business at €1.3bn of that outlay, it means that PSA will become the second-largest automotive company (behind the Volkswagen Group) in Europe, with a 17 per cent market share. For the GM Financial services, PSA joined forces with banking group BNP Paribas to go 50:50 on the €900m required to purchase that air of the business, meaning PSA's actual outlay is around €1.8bn.
Opel and Vauxhall between them generated revenue of €17.7bn in 2016. PSA says it will honour all of the two companies' pension funds across Europe, having inherited approximately 40,000 employees in the deal, but the long-term future of the former GM manufacturing and development sites is unclear - PSA has said there are 'substantial economies of scale and synergies' in purchasing Opel/Vauxhall, with annual savings of synergies in the order of €1.7bn by 2026. That can only mean some plants will have to close as part of the merger.
Anything else?
Carlos Tavares, the chairman of PSA, said: "We are proud to join forces with Opel/Vauxhall and are deeply committed to continuing to develop this great company and accelerating its turnaround. We respect all that Opel/Vauxhall's talented people have achieved as well as the company's fine brands and strong heritage. We intend to manage PSA and Opel/Vauxhall, capitalising on their respective brand identities."
Mary Barra, GM's chairman and CEO, added: "We are very pleased that together, GM, our valued colleagues at Opel/Vauxhall and PSA have created a new opportunity to enhance the long-term performance of our respective companies by building on the success of our prior alliance. We believe this new chapter puts Opel and Vauxhall in an even stronger position for the long term and we look forward to our participation in the future success and strong value-creation potential of PSA through our economic interest and continued collaboration on current and exciting new projects."