Stellantis NV and Nissan Motor Co. are in active discussions over acquiring discrete parts of Marelli Holdings Co., the auto-parts supplier currently undergoing bankruptcy reorganization, according to a report Thursday. The negotiations are confined to specific assets rather than the company as a whole and form part of a wider set of restructuring talks.
Sources say Stellantis is seeking Marelli's suspensions businesses located in Italy, Poland, Brazil and Mexico. Nissan, for its part, is evaluating cockpit-related assets within Marelli's Japanese operations.
These asset talks are intended to help preserve portions of Marelli's operations while the supplier navigates Chapter 11 proceedings. At this stage, no definitive deals have been signed.
Marelli traces its current structure to 2019, when KKR & Co. combined Italy's Magneti Marelli - bought from Fiat Chrysler for roughly 82.2 billion ($7 billion) - with Calsonic Kansei, a Japanese supplier previously held by the private equity firm. The company entered Chapter 11 protection a year ago and has been working through reorganization since then.
The component manufacturer produces a range of parts including interiors, climate systems and automotive electronics. In court filings, Marelli said it sought U.S. court protection after some of its clients, including Stellantis and Nissan, experienced declining sales across major markets. Marelli additionally cited tariffs and ongoing supply-chain disruptions stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic as factors in its filings.
Stellantis and Nissan are engaged in the restructuring process in part because both companies are large customers of Marelli. Court documents list them as the supplier's largest unsecured creditors. The companies' future order commitments have been described as important to Marelli's Chapter 11 case, and Marelli already produces certain components at some Stellantis facilities.
To sustain operations during restructuring, Marelli has obtained emergency financing from several senior creditors, named in court filings as Strategic Value Partners, MBK Partners, Fortress Investment Group and Polus Capital Management. The company plans to emerge from bankruptcy this year under the ownership of those principal lenders.
Marelli employs more than 40,000 people and has seen orders decline for multiple years. The Magneti Marelli lineage, founded in 1919, remains a long-standing element of Italy's automotive sector. Marelli's customer list also includes BMW AG.
Key data points
- Stellantis is negotiating for Marelli's suspensions business in Italy, Poland, Brazil and Mexico.
- Nissan is evaluating cockpit assets from Marelli's Japanese operations.
- Marelli filed for Chapter 11 one year ago and plans to exit bankruptcy this year under senior lenders' ownership.
Contextual implications
- Automotive suppliers and OEM procurement strategies are central to the restructuring dialogue.
- Parts of the global auto manufacturing supply chain - especially suspension and cockpit systems - are the immediate focus.