Report: Fiat May Move Primary Stock Listing to New York

Fiat SpA is likely to move its primary stock listing from Milan to New York City after completing its acquisition of Chrysler Group LLC, according to Reuters.

The news service cites two unnamed sources who say such a move would distance Fiat from its troubles in Italy and could help convince the investor community that the merged companies can better compete with General Motors, Ford and other large rivals.

Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said last spring he would prefer to have the merged company's primary listing in New York. In July he also floated the possibility of relocating Fiat's headquarters to the Netherlands.

Last week Fiat agreed to spend $4.35 billion (€3.2 billion) to acquire the 41.5% of Chrysler it doesn't already own. Fully merging the companies would give Fiat access to Chrysler's cash, which totaled $11.5 billion (€8.5 billion) at the end of September.