Stellantis, repaid the 6.3 billion loan in advance

Official confirmation goes beyond rumors. In a note, Stellantis announces that “the subsidiary FCA Italy SpA and other Italian companies of the Group have repaid the 6.3 billion credit line opened with Intesa Sanpaolo”. A very significant step in anticipation of the new industrial plan expected for 1st March, but above all for the new relationships that the company led by Carlos Tavares intends to build with Italy. Stellantis thanks in the note the initiative of the Italian government, formalized in May 2020 on the provisions of the Liquidity decree, which aimed to support small and medium-sized enterprises affected by the economic effects of Covid-19. “The credit line was instrumental in restarting industrial production and provided continuity to key investment projects to provide a sustainable future for the automotive sector in Italy,” acknowledges Stellantis, adding how the company “is now able to repay the line in advance of the original maturity date of March 2023 by continuing its investment projects “. We recall that the Liquidity decree provided for a public guarantee by Sace for 80%, an insurance company of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti group, but explicitly attributed the related risks to the State for a percentage of 90%.

The strategy

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Taking into account the dates, we can reconstruct the steps of an operation that summarizes the solid financial results of the group, but also a broader view of the new objectives. Stellantis was formally born on January 16, 2021, therefore seven months after the granting of the loan with a public guarantee by the Italian government. On 23 July it signed to obtain a new credit line of 12 billion euros with a group of 29 banks, intended from the outset to also offset the loan obtained by Intesa Sanpaolo, effectively financing its repayment. There are two tranches of the new credit line, 6 billion for a duration of 3 years and 6 billion with a duration of 5 years, with the possibility of further options for the extension of a further year. The picture was therefore already clear. Now a front is open for interpretation on the guarantees placed in 2020 to obtain the guarantee from the Italian Government, or rather the support of an industrial plan that envisages investments in our country for 5.2 billion euros, with the consequent protection of employment levels. and the centrality of the factories. However, the commitment made on July 8 by Carlos Tavares in EV Day 2021 remains unchanged, an event in which Stellantis has made official 30 billion euros of investments by 2025 for electrification and software. Among the decisions, the choice of Termoli in Molise as the headquarters of the first Italian Gigafactory, with a total redevelopment of the plant that is currently used for the production of engines, which will be replaced by the manufacture and final assembly of batteries for electric cars.