Cambio al vertice in Valeo, primaria azienda francese di produzione di componentistica auto. L'avvicendamento fra CEO sarebbe dovuto ai contrasti fra il manager dimissionario ed un primario azionista della società, in particolare, da ultimo, sulla opportunità di dismettere circa metà delle attività di Valeo in settori della componentistica a minore valore aggiunto per incrementare la quota in produzioni più profittevoli fino a dare a valeo la leadership in questa nicchia di settore (climatizzatori auto, componentistica elettronica ed altre)
Apprendo da questa Bloomberg che il Governo francese ha rilevato una quota in azioni Valeo il mese scorso attraverso il Fondo per gli Investimenti strategici, così portando la quota dello Stato nella società sopra l'8%.
Valeo Names Aschenbroich CEO as Morin Steps Down (Update2)
By Sabine Pirone
March 23 (Bloomberg) --
Valeo SA, France’s second-largest auto-parts maker, said
Jacques Aschenbroich will replace
Thierry Morin as chief executive officer amid differences over strategy.
Morin, 57, steps aside after facing pressure for more than a year from Pardus Capital Management LP, Valeo’s biggest shareholder, to sell off underperforming businesses and concentrate on increasing market share in a handful of areas, such as air conditioning. Paris-based Valeo makes a wide range of car parts, including windshield wipers and headlights.
“The process of change at Valeo was too slow in terms of removing the non-performing products to focus on future technologies,” said
Michael Tyndall, a London-based analyst at Nomura Securities who give Valeo shares a “reduce” recommendation.
The Valeo board also named
Pascal Colombani as acting chairman, a title Morin had held, the Paris-based company said today in a statement. Aschenbroich, 54, a former
Cie. de Saint- Gobain SA executive, and Colombani, 63, an associate director at the consulting firm AT Kearney, assumed their posts on March 20, when the board made its decision.
Valeo
rose as much as 37.5 cents, or 3.4 percent, to 11.50 euros and was up 1.4 percent as of 12:07 p.m. in Paris trading. The stock has gained 6.1 percent this year, giving the company a market value of 881 million euros ($1.2 billion).
At Odds
New York-based Pardus and Morin, a Valeo executive since 1995, had been at odds for more than a year as the investment fund pushed the French company to sell about half of its businesses and buy others to focus on becoming a global leader in vehicle heating, air conditioning and electrical parts.
Pardus, which holds a 19.75 percent stake, also had pressed Valeo to bid for all or part of Van Buren Township, Michigan- based Visteon Corp., identifying the company’s thermal-parts division as a potential acquisition.
Pardus is Visteon’s biggest shareholder, with a 23 percent stake.
The Valeo board originally opposed Pardus’s efforts to have seats on the French company’s board, citing a conflict of interest. Valeo and Pardus agreed last May that the fund would have one board member, partner
Behdad Alizadeh, and that he would not participate in any deliberations involving the Valeo and Visteon.
Fourth-Quarter Loss
Valeo, which has 121 plants and 51,200 employees in 27 countries, reported a fourth-quarter loss on Feb. 13 as customers including French carmakers PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault SA slashed production amid the global auto-sales slump. The net loss was 313 million euros compared with net income of 50 million euros a year earlier.
The French government’s Strategic Investment Fund took a stake in Valeo last month, raising the state’s overall holding to 8.33 percent and prompting press reports that President Nicolas Sarkozy might seek to create a new “national champion” in the sector by merging the company with rival auto suppliers.
Goldman Sachs took Valeo off its “conviction sell” list today, saying it has “continued expectations over the possibility of further stake building by the French state.” Goldman retained its “sell” recommendation and said west European automobile production will drop 25 percent this year.
per l'ultimo reperimento fondi arabi )
