Looking back on 2014, it was a busy and transformational year for FCA US LLC on the business side of things. We have a new name that better aligns us with our parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA); we’ve become a wholly owned member of the FCA family; and we’ve raised capital to compete effectively with the world’s largest automakers.
For FCA US (formerly Chrysler Group LLC), the year’s journey was decided in January when we and our parent company, then Fiat S.p.A. (now FCA), announced agreements with the UAW and the VEBA Trust that would make FCA US a wholly owned subsidiary of FCA.
In February, a debt offering of about $4.8 billion to settle the VEBA Trust Note, satisfying the last of our commitments from 2009, was completed.
On May 6, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne and the executive team publicly presented FCA’s new five-year business plan.
On Oct. 13, the official merger of Fiat S.p.A. with and into FCA took effect, and FCA began trading on the New York Stock Exchange as “FCAU.” It also trades on the Mercato Telematico Azionario in Milan, Italy, as “FCA.”
In December, FCA completed an offering of common shares and an offering of mandatory convertible securities that raised about $3.9 billion through U.S. markets. And that brings us to a new total.
More than $15 billion – including $8.7 billion this year − has been raised through U.S. financial markets by FCA and FCA US since May 2011, when the former Chrysler Group fully repaid, with interest, the loans that gave it its new start in 2009. For a number of reasons, quite an accomplishment carried out in just 44 months.
It’s been a busy time for us at FCA US with 56 consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains. Now we look forward. We have new challenges to pursue and journeys to undertake. We head into 2015 set on achieving the business plan that was outlined May 6. See you in the New Year.
