Fiat Chrysler (FCAU, $14.99) and Peugeot-maker PSA confirm merger intentions

 On Thursday, Fiat Chrysler and  Peugeot maker PSA Group confirmed their intention to merge.

The proposed merger would create the world’s fourth-largest automaker with a roughly $50 billion valuation, according to a CNBC report. The combined company is expected to generate 8.7 million vehicle sales, $190 billion in turnover, and to have a combined 400,000 employees.

If the deal comes through,  Fiat and PSA would merge on a 50-50 basis.

Executives have briefed regulators in the U.S. and France, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

The WSJ report indicated that Peugeot CEO Carlos Tavares is expected to lead the merged automaker as its CEO, while Fiat Chrysler chairman John Elkann would continue his role in the combined company.

The news comes five months after Fiat Chrysler ended merger discussions with PSA’s French rival, Renault. Fiat Chrysler, the world’s seventh-largest automaker, has been looking for a partner to expand scale and consolidate costs for a while.

The deal would give Peugeot six board seats and Fiat Chrysler five, according to the WSJ.

If Fiat’s deal with PSA does come through, it could potentially bolster Peugeot's re-entry into the U.S. market. For Fiat Chrysler, it would provide it with the resources to better compete in the rapidly shifting auto industry.

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Sergey Savastiouk|Expert

Sergey Savastiouk, Ph.D. has a degree in Applied Mathematics from Moscow University and has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, investor, manager, and mathematician. His professional expertise is in applied mathematics, mathematical modeling, system and pattern analysis, and software and hardware system integration. He has served as the CEO of several hi-tech start-up companies and nonprofit organizations, which has given him proven capabilities in business strategy for high-tech start-up companies, market assessment, company formation, team building, product development, marketing, and sales. He has published numerous articles in journals and magazines on related fields. As a retail investor, he spent 15 years developing his proprietary trading and quantitative algorithms (now Tickeron’s A.I.), which brought him significant returns in trading the stock market. His current work and goal in founding Tickeron is to bring professional, sophisticated stock market analysis capabilities to retail investors via an easy-to-use interface.