New York (AFP)

To ensure that their union remains a marriage of equals, the French car manufacturers PSA and the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler (FCA) have changed the terms of their marriage contract a little in order to take into account the impact of the pandemic on their respective accounts. .

FCA has notably agreed to lower the exceptional dividend it wishes to distribute to its shareholders before the final signing of the merger to 2.9 billion euros, against 5.5 billion euros previously.

The PSA group, for its part, plans to distribute its 46% stake in the capital of the French equipment manufacturer Faurecia to all the shareholders of the new company, called Stellantis, and not to its sole shareholders as provided for in the initial agreement.

These changes "preserve the original balance of the merger agreement," the two companies stressed on Monday in a joint statement.

Their union, announced at the end of 2019, should give birth to the world's fourth largest automotive group in terms of volume and third in terms of turnover, housing iconic brands such as Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Maserati under the same roof.

But since then, the pandemic has struck and has had an impact on the finances of the automotive industry, between dealer closures and containment measures.

Doubts had been expressed in recent months on the balance of the financial package.

PSA and Fiat had already announced in May that they were waiving the payment of an ordinary dividend of 1.1 billion euros each expected as part of their marriage, due to the health crisis.

But the amount of the exceptional dividend of 5.5 billion euros that FCA was to distribute to its shareholders as well as the distribution of Faurecia shares were still ticking because Faurecia's market capitalization has melted since the announcement of the engagement in December.

This mechanically played against the shareholders of the French manufacturer.

- More savings -

With the changes announced on Monday, "the respective shareholders of FCA and Groupe PSA will receive the equivalent of 23% of Faurecia's capital (...), while their 50/50 stake in Stellantis - a group which will now have 2.6 billion euros of additional liquidity on its balance sheet - will remain unchanged, "the statement said.

"In addition, it was also agreed that the boards of the PSA and FCA groups may consider a distribution of 500 million euros to the shareholders of each company before the final signature or, alternatively, a distribution of 1 billion euros to all Stellantis shareholders after the final signing, ”the document adds.

These possible gifts to shareholders will depend on the respective performance of the manufacturers as well as on market conditions.

The changes were approved "unanimously" by the boards of directors of both companies "with the strong support of their key shareholders".

They say they are "more than ever convinced of the merits of this merger and of the potential for creating value".

The groups now estimate that their merger should save 5 billion euros per year, against 3.7 billion initially.

"Stellantis 'revised upward prospects for synergies and long-term value creation now allow key shareholders to modify certain financial terms to further strengthen Stellantis' balance sheet at its start-up, all in a Covid context" , said a spokesperson for PSA with AFP.

"This will allow Stellantis to start with an even stronger balance sheet," he added.

Finally, PSA and Fiat Chrysler still plan to seal their union by "the end of the first quarter of 2021".

© 2020 AFP