Loading ...Fiat SpA (F), Italy’s largest manufacturer and a symbol of the country’s struggle to adapt to globalization, is leaving home after 115 years.
The controlling Agnelli family and other investors, holding their final shareholders meeting in Turin today, sealed the end of Fiat as an Italian company with a vote approving a merger with Chrysler. Created by Italian-Canadian Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV will be incorporated under Dutch law, based in the U.K. and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Marchionne doesn’t want to abandon Italy; he wants FCA and himself to be global players, and the center of gravity of FCA has to be repositioned in order to do that,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. “It is a little sad for Italy.”