PSA Peugeot-Citroen is looking to tie up all the elements of Russian Railway’s (RZD) share investment into its Gefco subsidiary by the end of December.
The deal – which PSA today (21 September) confirmed would see 75% of Gefco shares purchased by RZD for EUR800m (US$1.04bn) – is subject to anti-trust approval by French and Russian authorities but the automaker remains confident it will succeed.
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“We want to have done – the whole process – by the end of December,” a PSA spokeswoman told just-auto from Paris. “Not only speaking to the unions, but also the share purchase from Russian Railways.
“We don’t have a date for meeting the unions [Works Council] – it is a process of information/consultation – employees are represented by people they elected – this can be members of unions or not – they can be independent.”
PSA insists its remaining 25% will stay in France and confirmed it was looking at similar sale and lease back deals of its buildings, such as the recent transaction involving its headquarters at avenue de la Grande Armee in Paris.
It also maintained the deal would allow for further possibilities to enlarge its footprint to the east.
“Russian Railways is a good opportunity for Gefco to pursue its geographical expansion, especially to eastern Europe and Russia,” said the PSA spokeswoman.
The French automaker added it did not envisage other disposals along the scale of the Gefco deal.
