
Paris Exasperates Fiat Chrysler as Renault Merger Flops – Financial Times - TMWNN
https://www.ft.com/content/c8546530-887a-11e9-a028-86cea8523dc2
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TMWNN
From the article:

It was the culmination of weeks of increasing FCA exasperation over the
behaviour of Renault’s largest shareholder.

Several months earlier, when the private discussions between Mr Senard and Mr
Elkann graduated from co-operation into merger talks, the French state had
been deliberately brought on board, including a meeting in Paris between Mr
Elkann and Mr Macron.

[...]

One person said the process was accelerated over the weekend after the
Financial Times reported on Saturday that the two groups were in talks. Once
the news became public, the attitude of the French state changed, according to
several people.

Questions that both sides believed were resolved were reopened, and new
concessions requested.

“It was never enough, the goalposts were being moved constantly,” said one
person involved in the talks.

[...]

“This deal will hurt the credibility of Macron in Europe and globally,” said a
person close to FCA.

“This was his chance to play Europe’s kingmaker. Instead, he made everything
harder. If he was hoping to lift France’s image as a place to do business,
that’s over.”

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NotPaidToPost
Rather unsavoury of FCA to publicly badmouth the other side this way just
because they did not want to let you have whatever you wanted.

