Mitsubishi Motors shareholders overwhelmingly approved separating off the company’s truck operations at an extraordinary shareholders meeting on Tuesday though several said they couldn’t understand the benefits of spinning off a profitable business, Automotive News reported.
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According to the newspaper’s website, Mitsubishi chairman Takashi Sonobe explained repeatedly that Mitsubishi would benefit financially from what he called a “demerger.”
Automotive News said Sonobe explained that Mitsubishi Motors would receive about 120 billion yen, or $US1 billion at current exchange rates, from selling shares in the newly formed Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Company while DaimlerChrysler would pay Mitsubishi about $US742 million for a 43% stake in the truck company, and a group of about 10 Mitsubishi Group companies would pay another $US258 million for a 15% stake while Mitsubishi Motors retained a 42% stake in Mitsubishi Fuso.
Sonobe added that about $917 million in debt would move from Mitsubishi Motors’ balance sheet to Mitsubishi Fuso’s, according to Automotive News.
According to the newspaper, Mitsubishi Motors President Rolf Eckrodt told the meeting: “Both businesses are very different. I’ve worked in trucks and in passenger cars. The synergies between the two are very small.”
Mitsubishi Fuso is scheduled to be formally established on January 6, 2003, Automotive News noted.
