There is no shortage of work for the Agnelli legal consultants. Lawyers have defused the mine of an Exor lawsuit against the French Covéa, guilty of having pulled back, thanks to the problems raised by the pandemic, from the purchase of Partner Re. John Elkann, after threatening billionaire lawsuits, preferred to proceed with an agreement, however advantageous, with one of the giants financial transalpines, avoiding the confrontation in the courtroom. The agreement requires Covéa to invest 1,5 billion euros together with Exor in a vehicle that will be managed by Partner RE.
Half of the amount will be dedicated to investments together with Exor while a further 750 million will be invested in some special vehicles managed by Partner RE, dedicated to reinsurance contracts on real estate catastrophes and other short-term contracts (first investments for 500 million since January 2021 while 250 million since January 2024). Difficult to assess the financial impact of the deal. However, its strategic value is evident: Exor strengthens its presence in reinsurance and books a possible flashback with Covéa still looking for new growth spaces.
For a cause that is moving away, another, politically more insidious, is returning. General Motors is back in charge at the Detroit federal prosecutor's office, which had already rejected a similar request, to condemn FCA for having damaged GM itself during the negotiations for the renewal of the contract through maneuvers with the leaders of the auto union. The alleged boycott would have been orchestrated by Sergio Marchionne himself, to favor an understanding between the two houses.
The accusation, move following the conviction of a Chrysler executive for bribery, has already been rejected by the Detroit court, but the CEO of GM, Mary Barra, has returned to office claiming she has new evidence on the involvement of two union leaders, Dennis Williams and Joe Ashton: the two, former members of the board of GM on behalf of the Uaw (shareholder of the auto giant) against payment of a bribe in the tax havens they would have passed information to Marchionne and sabotaged union relations.
It is unlikely that this time the court will accept the requests of Miss Barra che appear more like a nuisance operation a few months after the merger between PSA and FCA, which has so far withstood every obstacle, starting with the damage of the pandemic. Many analysts believed that the terms of the merger would not have withstood the worsening of the accounts, especially of FCA, which accrued during the lockdown. But the numbers announced by the Italian-American company, thanks to the US component, were much better than expected, to the delight of Carlos Tavares, the future leader of the new group, determined to defend the deal that allows PSA to set foot in the US.
The worst, then, also seems to have passed in Europe: in July in Italy the group sold 31.044 cars, about 9% of the Italian market which, in turn, is recovering from the lows of the pandemic: - 11% in July against -23,7 .12% in June with the prospect of a strong rebound favored by eco-bonuses (XNUMX million euros requested in the first three days). This is not the time to party, in short, but we can wait for the take-off of the electric 500 and the new Maserati models with a touch of optimism. And the market, which at the end of the morning rewards FCA with an increase of more than 3%, shows that it believes in it.
