Fiat Board Approves Chrysler Merger, Okays Bond Sale

Fiat SpA's board of directors has formally approved its merger with Chrysler Group LLC. The company will hold a special shareholder meeting in the next few months to sign off on the deal.

The merger itself is expected to be completed by the end of the year. By then the new company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, intends to move its primary stock listing from Milan to the New York Stock Exchange.

Fiat's board also authorized Fiat to issue as much as €4 billion in bonds between now and the end of 2015, thus giving the company flexibility to consolidate debt. Bloomberg News notes that new issue is similar to amounts previously approved by the board. Fiat has about €10 billion in net industrial debt.

On Friday CEO Sergio Marchionne affirmed the company's targets for this year in spite of sluggish markets in Brazil and Europe.