Fiat Chrysler agrees to merger with Peugeot

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot made it official on Thursday morning reaching an agreement to form a $50 billion auto behemoth.

The two companies said in a statement that shareholders will initially own 50 percent of the new company

.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
fcau	NO DATA AVAILABLE	-	-	-

John Elkann, Fiat Chrysler's chairman, will become chairman of the newly merged company while Peugeot Chief Executive Carlos Tavares will be CEO.

The new company will be traded in New York, Milan and Paris on the Euronext exchange.

The companies said they expect to generate $4.11 billion in annual synergies once the they are fully integrated, accoridng to a statement.

A tie-up would give Peugeot a presence in the U.S. market, which it exited in 1991.

Combined, the two automakers sold about 5.4 million vehicles globally last year. By comparison, General Motors sold 8.4 million while Ford sold 5.9 million.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

This isn’t the first time the two companies have been linked. In April, Robert Peugeot, president of the Peugeot family’s holding company, said a deal with Fiat was an option.