MILAN: Italian American carmaker Fiat Chrysler said on Wednesday that the payment of a planned 2.9 billion euro ($3.5 billion) special dividend as part of its merger with France's PSA had "become unconditional".

The special dividend, worth 1.84 euros per share, will be paid on Jan. 29, Fiat Chrysler (FCA) said in a statement.

FCA and Peugeot maker PSA expect to complete their $52 billion merger to create Stellantis, the world's fourth largest automaker, on Saturday, after their investors gave their blessing to the plan last week.

The record date has been set to Friday, the day before the merger finalisation, and only FCA investors on that date will be paid the extraordinary dividend.

FCA's largest shareholder is Exor, the holding company of Italy's Agnelli family, with a stake of just under 29%.