PSA/Peugeot-Citroen will sell at least 50 percent of its Gefco trucking unit in order to procure in more cash as the carmaker struggles with dwindling sales in Europe. FO union representative and head of Gefco's works council Patrice Clos told Bloomberg News in a phone interview that Yves Fargues, the trucking unit’s chief executive, has informed them of the carmaker’s plans during a works council meeting Thursday. Florent Couvreur, an analyst at CM-CIC Securities, told Bloomberg that the sale of majority of Gefco would mean that the trucking unit’s would be deconsolidated in Peugeot's accounts, which would result in a 20 percent reduction in the carmaker’s operating income.
In February 2012, PSA announced plans to sell assets, including shares in Gefco, as it struggles to cope with overcapacity in Europe and soaring debts. PSA posted a 14.9 percent drop in sales for the January to May 2012 period to 675,323 vehicles, according to data from the ACEA industry group. This means that the carmaker’s decline is much worse than the European car industry’s and has resulted in a reduction in market share to 12 percent from 13 percent.
Around eight parties have expressed interest in acquiring majority of Gefco from PSA. Clos said that the carmaker will trim down the number of bidders to three by the end of July. Clos added that a stake sale agreement could be finalized by early September, a month later than originally set.
