Deals
GM Finally Leaves Europe Behind
It’s the end of an era. Here’s what it means.
This article is for subscribers only.
After almost nine decades in Europe, the Detroit giant is selling its European unit, Opel, to France’s PSA Group, the maker of Peugeot and Citroën. The deal creates the region’s No. 2 seller of cars (behind Volkswagen AG) and effectively revives an alliance the companies abandoned in 2013.
Fuzzy Math
The sticker price is $2.3 billion, for which PSA gets Opel, Vauxhall Motors, and (together with BNP Paribas bank) GM’s European finance business. GM, in turn, will give PSA $3.2 billion upfront for current worker pensions and spend $400 million annually for the next 15 years to cover payments to Opel retirees. Barclays Bank Plc figures the bottom line is that GM is paying Peugeot $600 million to take Opel off its hands.