A group of banks led by mega bank JPMorgan Chase have joined the discussions between General Motors and Cerberus Capital Management over the sale of Chrysler LLC. JPMorgan Chase holds about $10 billion in Chrysler debt and is apparently eager to help General Motors acquire the beleaguered, privately-held automaker.
“While a GM-Chrysler tie-up would clearly be a high risk transaction from an operational perspective, such a transaction may give GM leverage over two key stakeholders: the UAW and banks,” JPMorgan auto industry analyst Himanshu Patel wrote in a research note provided to journalists yesterday. “By saving Chrysler from a liquidity event, GM may also be able to get itself much needed secured bank financing from the same banks that are currently holding Chrysler debt.”
GM would also gain access to Chrysler’s $11 billion in cash, though the combined group would ultimately shed up to 30,000 jobs, according to those close to the discussions. The job cuts would, naturally, be devastating to the Michigan economy, as well as Chrysler employees at plants, dealerships and regional offices throughout the United States.
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, said that the GM-Chrysler deal is “90 percent certainty” during an interview with the Detroit News.
“The cost of a cleanup would be a lot of more than preventative measures,” he told the paper. “The banks are pushing hard. They want to see a consolidation. A combined GM-Chrysler becomes too big to fail from a policy standpoint.”
10/21, 9:56 AM
posted by:
DrFill
If my bank, JPMorgan, is working it, consider it done.
They don’t play.
The last sentence is a good point
GM-Chrysler would become so important that the US couldn’t allow them to fail.
There is strength in numbers
But then again, the future is ours
If Detroit can count
Damn!
DrFill
10/21, 10:25 AM
posted by:
HoosierHero
Great…I hope they aren’t banding together to get bailout money. I don’t subscribe to the company welfare program. Especially when the companies are putting out crap like Chrysler. Let the market do what it’s supposed to do and let them slip into oblivion. I don’t want to be paying for their mistakes the rest of my life.
10/21, 10:50 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
May 07, 1998. Anyone on this forum looking to write an economic thesis on the decline and fall of an American icon just start there and follow the trail of red ink. Actually I’m hoping someone does eventually publish a blow by blow account, it would be fascinating reading to say the least.
10/21, 11:34 AM
posted by:
yarddog82abn
Quick cut up your Chase credit cards!!!!
LOL…. come on now some one had to say it….
10/21, 12:24 PM
posted by:
Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3
If anyone even remotely believes that the banks are truly interested in this merger for anything other than their own self-serving purposes, well, then you know what is coming next… We, the American taxpayers, bailout the banks, the car industries and we, the American taxpayers, are left stuck with the bailout bill. How is GM, given its current state and debt service, going to actually produce vehicles without having to pass-on these new costs? It goes like this…we, the American taxpayer will not only be charged higher prices, we, the American taxpayer will not receive one damn penny in return for the bailout money, plus higher taxes, plus higher GM vehicle cost. The fact is that GM had labor issues decades ago and the wisest of the business schools said it would be the problem it is today and told GM decades ago to start changing. There will be less competition is this merger goes through, less choices, and less jobs all the way around with the new and so-called improved GM financial status that we all know is a bunch of crap! This all goes back to failed leadership yet the top execs of failed and troubled US corporations are coming-out ahead financially like no other time in history. What’s wrong with this picture? Lots.
10/21, 12:33 PM
posted by:
hecti
why doesnt chrysler just pay off its debt??
theyed have 1 billion to start over with,
get rid of all the fat hire new designers and start over
10/21, 12:55 PM
posted by:
DrFill
I think if this merger doesn’t work, JPMorgan should buy Chrysler, then sell it in parts for a nice profit.
JPMorgan bails every other struggling company out.
Might as well
Be Better managed than the gov’t could
DrFill
10/21, 3:29 PM
posted by:
bolex
i agree johnnycannuck and sure enough someones gonna write a book about it..the seeds before 1998 starts with Iaccoca who surpassed Lutz for Eaton, an outsider. Eaton sold out Chrylser, Iaccoca appointed him. Had Lutz taken over…who knows what could have happened? this whole thing is a damn shame. Chrysler was a good alternative to mainstream GM and Ford, they were a smaller co. that took bigger risks that resulted some blockbuster cars (Viper,Prowler,300,PT……) damn shame. I know alot of folks wont miss em but they did push the envelope.
10/21, 5:19 PM
posted by:
wiseassoffice
This is akin to Microsoft buying Apple back in the day when people wondered how Apple would survive. Companies survive and thrive on selling things people want.
For instance…Dodge Avenger sucks as it is.
However clean up the styling, redo the interior- add quality and add gadgets and give it north of 270HP
You have a winner.
Take the Jeep Compass…instead of a crappy Mitsu-derivative turn it into a Ford Escape competitor (jack it up some) give it a potent 240HP and up 4 cylinder turbo. Make it minimalist.
You have a winner.
Chrysler was successful because they were innovative.
On the OTHER HAND
Another part of me thinks that maybe Lutz wants another run at Chrysler and maybe that divisions like Pontiac will fall for brands like Dodge and Hummer for Jeep. Chrysler as a division is probably toast though. I can also see GMC being replaced by RAM trucks.