Interest Rate Roundup

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Chrysler files for Chapter 11

One of the "Big Three" automakers -- Chrysler LLC -- has now filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Here is an excerpt from a Bloomberg story on the filing:

"Chrysler LLC, the smallest of the Big Three U.S. automakers, filed today for bankruptcy protection in New York to streamline operations and shed debt in a reorganization that includes Italy’s Fiat SpA as a partner.

"The iconic automaker, which survived a near-death experience in 1979, missed a U.S. government deadline to come up with a restructuring plan by today that was rigorous enough to avoid bankruptcy and qualify for more bailout aid. The carmaker tried to negotiate an alliance with Fiat, reduce $6.9 billion in secured loans and cut $10.6 billion owed to a pension fund. Some lenders refused to slash the debt to $2.25 billion.

"The carmaker and the government plan to use the bankruptcy process to revitalize Chrysler by putting its best assets, such as its Jeep and Dodge Ram brands, in a new company that wouldn’t be burdened by current costs and debt. A slimmed-down version of Chrysler, armed with Fiat’s small-car technology, would emerge from such a process, giving the carmaker a “new lease on life,” U.S. President Barack Obama said today.

“Bankruptcy could do a lot of good for Chrysler” by allowing it to “shrink down to the size it needs” quickly, said Stephen Lubben, who teaches bankruptcy-law at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. “Fiat has shown that it knows how to turn around a troubled business.”

"Bankruptcy can involve uncertainty and delay. Dissident creditors intend to object to the company’s reorganization plan, a person familiar with their thinking said. That might thwart President Barack Obama’s goal of a “surgical” bankruptcy that would put a viable carmaker quickly into the market."

Now the question becomes: "What happens with GM." Various plans are under consideration there.

1 Comments:

  • Right before our very eyes...

    Was it part of your analysis that the Federal government would do so much to obviscate the truth. To demonize bond holders is favor of the unions. In the BAC case force a private company to bend to the governments will?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at May 4, 2009 at 12:53 PM  

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