Ford & GM Sell Stakes in Japanese Automakers

18th November 2008

Ford and GM separately announced today that they have sold stakes in Mazda and Suzuki, respectively.

Ford said it plans to sell over 60% of its holding in Mazda, reducing its ownership from 33.4% to just over 13%. Ford has held an interest in Mazda for almost 30 years. Both companies said that their relationship will not change, and that they plan to continue all of their joint projects and sharing of platforms and powertrains. Ford will sell the shares back to Mazda and to a group of Mazda’s business partners. The partners were not named. Ford expects to net $540 million from the sale. Ford has long held slightly more than one-third of Mazda, which defines a controlling interest under Japanese law (I guess unless somebody else has a stake even bigger). For many years, Ford has given its managers international experience by rotating them through positions at Mazda, including present Ford Executive VPs Mark Fields and Lewis Booth. They have gained valuable experience there. One wonders if that type of experience will still be available to Ford’s managers in the future.

GM will sell all of its 3% stake in Suzuki, but also says that its relationship will not change. GM will sell the shares on the open market, and expects to receive $230 million. GM’s announcement also states that the parties agreed that GM will be able to repurchase its stake in the future if it chooses. Here, I wonder what GM would use to buy shares in anything. It doesn’t have any money!

Obviously, GM and Ford are making these moves in an effort to raise as much cash as they can to help fund their operations. Today’s hearings on the hill did not go well for the automakers, and the gods of the Potomac do not seem inclined to bestow upon their automotive subjects any favors. I sure hope that they can find some other way to stay afloat until the economy recovers, or we’ll all be in trouble. Yes, that includes you.