GM in talks to acquire 5% stake in PSA Peugeot Citroën

General Motors is negotiating a 5 percent shareholding in French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën, according to the business newspaper Les Echos. The arrangement would include a standstill clause barring GM from raising its holding without Peugeot's approval.

French Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand confirmed last week that the two companies were pursuing a strategic alliance. Peugeot, Europe's second-largest carmaker behind Volkswagen, sold 3.5 million vehicles globally in 2011. The founding Peugeot family holds roughly 30 percent of shares and nearly 46 percent of voting rights in the group, which absorbed Citroën in 1976.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in February 2012, in its own words.