Peugeot shares plummet after GM pull-out announcement
Shares in French carmaker Peugeot plummeted on Friday after the US's GM announced it was selling its seven per cent stake in the company. The French state may intervene amid talk of a huge capital shake-up that might involve China's state-owned Dongfeng.
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PSA Peugeot-Citroën's shares fell 9.78 per cent to 9.59 euros in early trading on Friday after falling 7?6 per cent on Thursday.
The fall followed GM's announcement that it was pulling out of Peugeot, saying that its equity support was no longer needed.
The two companies' alliance started in March 2012 and the European market plunged, affecting both Peugeot and GM's German arm, Opel.
The French company also confirmed that it is in talks with Dongfeng over a shareholder tie-up.
Europe's second biggest carmaker after Volkswagen, Peugeot has always been dominated by the Peugeot family, but reports say the family is on the retreat after years of huge losses and poor strategy.
The question of an eventual entry by the French state into the lossmaking company's capital "will certainly be raised, but for now let's leave the companies discuss among themselves," Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg said on BFM radio on Friday.
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