John Elkann turns 45, and John Elkann's annual letter

[AlexB]

Despite him hiring Sergio, John is among the youngest of the key folks of Stellantis leaders(born 1 April 1976), and today (April 1 ) he turn 45.

Here's the annual letter (Buffett style):

''Dear Shareholders, 2020 was an extraordinarily difficult year for the entire world with 1.8 million lives lost to COVID-19 – a toll that has since sadly grown to nearly 2.8 million. However, with the roll-out of vaccines we, at last, have hope that our families and communities can be protected and we can lay the foundations for economic recovery. Last year was also extremely challenging for Exor. However, difficult times are character-revealing, and reflecting back on last year, I believe we acted effectively and responsibly and that our companies responded by showing the very best of who they are. Throughout this period, we remained true to our values, which I shared with you in last year’s letter. We express these as a set of dualities: humility & ambition, curiosity & focus, patience & drive and courage & responsibility. While relevant at all times, we found them to be even more critical during this period. Our priority throughout the pandemic has been to protect the health and safety of our people, which we did while managing a very high level of financial and operational complexity. The second quarter was one of the toughest periods we have had to face in our history but one that has also made us stronger. I would like to thank all my colleagues at Exor and our companies for the fortitude they are demonstrating throughout this difficult period and for their generosity in supporting, in a variety of ways, those impacted by the pandemic.''

'In parallel with this work on reinsurance, we also faced, in the second quarter of 2020, unprecedented disruption in the car industry with a complete global lockdown of plants and production. The shutdown had immediate financial consequences because it led to an unwinding of working capital, and this saw FCA and its suppliers having to manage significant liquidity issues. I want to pay tribute to Mike Manley and our many colleagues at FCA, who managed extreme operational challenges as we moved to protect our people and our partners while resolving these pressing financial issues.''. ''Alongside tackling these challenges, we also continued to prepare for the merger of FCA with PSA to form Stellantis. In doing this, we wanted to ensure that the new company would have the strongest possible balance sheet to act as a shield against future crises and to allow it to invest in its future. Following constructive interactions between the FCA and PSA Boards after the start of the pandemic, we revisited the cash component of our agreement. Both Boards were even more convinced of the strong rationale for the merger, so we agreed to reduce the extraordinary dividend of €5.5 billion due to FCA shareholders to €2.9 billion and allocate to them 50% of the PSA stake in Faurecia originally destined for distribution to PSA shareholders. This meant that Stellantis was able to start life with €54.5 billion in liquidity, a positive Net Financial Position of €14.9 billion and revised annual steady state synergies of over €5.0 billion.''

''I’m proud that we have successfully concluded a combination of the kind that Sergio Marchionne recommended years ago in his ‘confessions of a capital junkie’ when he argued that consolidation in the car industry would be needed to allocate capital more efficiently and compete more effectively. If he were still with us today, I’m sure Sergio would strongly support the creation of Stellantis. The new company brings together 400,000 people to create a business with the scale, technology and ambition not only to meet the challenges of an industry undergoing massive change, but also to be at the forefront of shaping this new and exciting era of sustainable mobility. The scale of Stellantis means it will be able to invest to bring its customers new products across its portfolio of storied brands, and significantly increase its existing range of electrified models: in 2021 with 11 additional high voltage models, we plan to nearly triple our global sales from 139,000 to 400,000 high voltage vehicles (BEV and PHEV).'''Exor is the largest single shareholder in Stellantis with around 14% of its shares and could not be more committed to its future success. I’m honored to be its Chairman and with Carlos Tavares at the helm as Chief Executive Officer, leading a proven and highly talented team, we have an exciting opportunity to shape the industry that my ancestors helped create and whose pioneering spirit is still guiding us today''

We started the year with the birth of Stellantis on 16 January. It has been a pleasure to begin working with Carlos Tavares on our shared ambition for the company and excitement for the future.
At Exor, despite all the challenges of the last year, we continue to believe in the future, while always learning from the past. We, therefore, very much look forward, vaccination success permitting, to meeting in person in Torino on 30 November at the Agnelli Foundation to discuss both with you. In concluding this year’s shareholder letter, I would like to end on a positive note by thinking about my grandfather Gianni Agnelli who would have celebrated his 100th birthday on 12 March 2021.Despite the many difficulties he had to face, he always heralded the importance of the future and often told us: “I love the future and I like young people. My life has always been a bet on the future.”

https://www.exor.com/sites/default/files/2021-04/Letter%20to%20Shareholders%202020.pdf

 

[Bili]

I'm pretty much sure that Sergio would be against any prospect not merging with PSA. Actually this wasn't John's idea either. Manley was the one who pushed for it on FCA's side.

 

[redriderbob]

I am not a fan of Elkann. But the merger with PSA is fine with me. But I don't like Carlos as the CEO.