Fiat Shareholders Approve Chrysler Merger

Fiat SpA shareholders approved by an 85% margin the company's merger with Chrysler Group LLC to form a new entity, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, with headquarters in the Netherlands.

The deal creates the world's seventh-largest carmaker, which hopes to boost last year's Fiat-Chrysler production of 4.4 million vehicles to 7 million by 2018. The merger also ends Fiat's 115-year reign as Italy's premier domestic carmaker.

CEO Sergio Marchionne has been adamant that Fiat cannot survive without becoming a larger and truly global company that can compete with the likes of Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors. Without the contribution of Fiat's increasing stake in Chrysler, the company would have posted losses in 2012 and 2013.

The merger still could be postponed if enough dissenters and creditors opt to cash in their Fiat holdings rather than convert them into FCA shares.

Marchionne says he set a €500 million ceiling for such payments. If the total goes higher, he tells reporters in Turin, "We will come back at it another time."

Assuming the merge isn't delayed, Marchionne aims to list FCA shares on the New York Stock Exchange in October. He also will launch an ambitious €48 billion plan to develop new products and markets in a bid to multiply net profits by a factor of five by 2018.