GM CEO Fritz “Transparency” Henderson: We’re Beating Secret Targets
By Robert FaragoNovember 5, 2009
Transparency. It’s what GM CEO Fritz Henderson promised taxpayers in sworn testimony in front of Congress, post $52 billion bailout (and the rest). As TTAC pointed out previously, bullshit. After not releasing the dead dealer list promised to Senator Jay Rockefeller, the nationalized automaker is now proud to announce that it’s beating its targets—without revealing the targets. “General Motor Corp. is outperforming the targets set in its earnings viability plan outlined in April, CEO Fritz Henderson said today,” Automotive News [sub] said today. “Henderson declined to list the areas in which GM is outperforming but said the company would provide details in its third-quarter earnings report later this month. ‘I’m not going to get into whether we’re generating cash or not generating cash, but I would certainly say the situation is more stable than what the outlook was even just two months ago.’” And why should we believe His Opaqueness?
Posted in Chapter 11 | News Blog | 19 comments 
Chrysler’s Cash Claim: A Cruel Con?
By Robert FaragoNovember 4, 2009
Sergio Marchionne stunned the mainstream media—literally—with his revelation that Chrysler has improved its post-C11 cash position from $4 billion to $5.7 billion. “’Some of you have been surmising we’re burning through cash,’ he said in brief remarks opening the company’s presentation of its five-year plan. ‘This is not true.’” Uh, yes, it is. Can you say “accounts payable?” When Chrysler entered into bankruptcy, it stopped production. Remember the Chrysler Cash for Clunkers product drought? Like that. Since then, Chrysler’s been taking in [meager amounts of] cash without paying out anything much, as production more or less stopped during the interregnum. And now that production has resumed? Chrysler’s about to pay those 90-day payables. Look for Fiatsler’s cash pile to erode like a California beach during an El Niño storm.
Posted in Chapter 11 | High Finance | News Blog | 23 comments
Opel Workers Set to Strike, Germans Recalling $2.2B Bridge Loan
By Robert FaragoNovember 4, 2009
GM’s last minute (i.e. post-German election) decision to pull out of a deal to sell its European Opel division to a consortium lead by Canada’s Magna Corporation has left chaos in its wake. The Associated Press reports that Opel workers throughout Europe are planning to strike GM on Thursday, protesting the automaker’s planned “rationalization” of over ten thousand jobs. “IG Metall said workers at Opel’s four German plants would halt work Thursday, followed by similar moves Friday at other Opel locations in Europe.” Meanwhile, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle vowed “We will get the taxpayers’ money back.” Note: that’s German taxpayers’ money. And there’s only one way the nationalized automaker’s going to pay back that loan: with American taxpayers’ money. Seriously? Seriously. “GM Europe spokesman Karin Kirchner said the company is prepared to repay the euro1.5 billion bridge loan from the German government. ‘If we’re asked, GM will repay the bridge loan in question.’” Uh, that didn’t sound like a “request” to me. And speaking of plain speaking . . .
Posted in Chapter 11 | Germany | High Finance | News Blog | 20 comments
Jerry York: 2010 GM IPO “The Dumbest Thing in the World”
By Robert FaragoNovember 3, 2009
You can certainly understand the feds’ desire to make GM’s nationalization look like a temporary measure rather than the economic quagmire that is was, is and will be. But anyone with half a brain knew that the not-so-dynamic duo’s suggestion of a 2010 share offering was about as believable as the idea that the U.S. government can save money by creating a new entitlement program. OK, less. Add Jerry York to that half-a-cranium club. Speaking at The Reuters Auto Summit, the ex-ChryCo exec, former GM board member and Kirk Kerkorian front man called any discussion of a 2010 GM IPO the “dumbest thing in the world.” Seems that “They’re not going to be able to make up all the volume that they had with the four brands they are shedding with four brands they are retaining . . . I think that inevitably their market share is going to go down a point or two just by virtue of shedding those four brands.” Saying that, after saying that, Jer’ added some kind words to his piercing glimpse into the obvious. Mr. York praised New GM’s old management. “They’ve done a lot of the right things and we’ll all know in another six to nine months whether they need to do more structurally.” I’m guessing . . . yes!
Posted in Chapter 11 | News Blog | 10 comments
$13.6 Billion Remaining in GM’s Bailout Escrow Account
By Edward NiedermeyerNovember 2, 2009
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GM was given its last $30B of taxpayer money as it entered bankruptcy in early June of this year. By the time GM exited Chapter 11 protection on July 10, there was only $16.4B left in its bailout escrow account. According to an 8-K form filed today with the SEC, GM now has only $13.6B remaining in that account, less than one-third of GM’s $50B total bailout (not counting assistance to GMAC). GM’s rescue of its major supplier, Delphi, consumed $2.8 billion from its escrow account. According to the form:
Approximately $1.7 billion was utilized to acquire a membership interest in the new Delphi entity and approximately $1.1 billion was expended in the acquisition of Delphi’s global steering business, certain domestic facilities and other related payments
Posted in Chapter 11 | News Blog | 15 comments
Opel Deal To Close This Week?
By Edward NiedermeyerOctober 13, 2009
The Wall Street Journal reports GM could conclude its Opel division sale by as early as Thursday, after Fritz Henderson and German officials both signaled that talks were nearing an end. Magna and its backer Sberbank will put down €500m ($740m) for 55 percent of Opel, while Opel’s labor unions have agreed to €265m worth of cost savings. The German government aid package said to total €4.5b through 2015 has yet to be finalized, but this apparently will not affect the deal. The major issue still under negotiation is the potential job loss across Europe, as the EU has already warned Germany that it my not “buy” jobs with its aid package at the expense of other EU nations. Which means Spain, Belgium, Britain and Poland still have to play “shuffle the jobs.” Magna has said that Opel could shed as many as 10,500 jobs, including 4,000 in Germany. On the upside Opel’s unions are getting ten percent of New Opel, although their decision making power is another of the issues still being negotiated. GM fought long and hard to prevent the sale of Opel to Magna/Sberbank, but with the major obstacles to the deal overcome there’s little left to do but grin and sign the papers. And then sit back and watch as Opel’s technology is leveraged to create a modern (and heavily subsidized) Russian auto industry which will challenge Chevy’s position in the Eastern European markets.
Posted in Chapter 11 | Europe | News Blog | Union News | 5 comments
Suppliers Still Looking For Bailout
By Edward NiedermeyerOctober 9, 2009
“There must be increased access to capital through the entire supply chain — from the largest tier one to the smallest family-owned firm,” Dave Andrea, vice president of industry analysis and economics at the Original Equipment Suppliers Association told the Senate Banking Committee [via The Freep]. “Without assistance this country will needlessly lose manufacturing capacity, technology development and jobs.” Which is about what suppliers have been telling congress since bailout mania struck. What the Freep fails to properly explain is that the supplier bailout passed earlier this year was an unmitigated disaster for suppliers and their relations with OEMs.
Posted in Bailout Watch | Chapter 11 | News Blog | Suppliers | 4 comments
Delphi Exiting Bankruptcy
By Edward NiedermeyerOctober 6, 2009
After four years in Chapter 11 protection, GM’s largest supplier Delphi is returning to the land of the living. For now. Along the way, though, Delphi racked up some impressive bills. Automotive News [sub] estimates that GM has spent $12.5b on Delphi during its bankruptcy, and has pledged a further $1b in debt assumption, $2b in forgiven claims and $1.75b in investments in the new company. For these (taxpayer funded) sacrifices, GM will get Delphi’s money-losing US operations and steering unit business. Delphi’s new owners Elliott Management and Silver Point Capital walked away from $3.5b in debt to assume control of the company, and $6.25b in pension obligations were dumped by Delphi and had to be assumed by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. Delphi’s bankruptcy alone cost $400 million in legal and professional fees. The new company’s manufacturing base has been migrated outside the US, and its main business will be in supplying electronics and air conditioning systems. Expected annual revenue is $10 billion compared to the $22.59 billion the firm earned in 2005, before entering bankruptcy. But rather than tut-tutting the waste, greed and ineptitude that has marked Delphi’s bankruptcy, let’s take this moment to remember the thousands of employees and retirees Delphi has cast aside in the name of rescuing the US auto industry. For, as the Sibyl of Delphi foretold in the 9th Century B.C.E., love of money and nothing else will ruin Sparta.
Posted in Chapter 11 | News Blog | Suppliers | 7 comments
GM CFO on the Way Out
By Edward NiedermeyerSeptember 9, 2009
What a funny coincidence. On the very same day that a government oversight panel rips GM a new one for disappearing billions of taxpayer bucks, the Detroit News brings word that GM’s CFO, Ray Young, will be leaving the company. Young’s departure comes as GM is shaking up its finance department, the division which gave the company such fine leaders as Rick Wagoner and Fritz Henderson. The DetN identifies Young’s announcement that GM would not disclose all of its financial information as a publicly-funded private company as a major cause for his ouster. And if the DetN’s reporting is to be believed, Young isn’t the only GM exec who should be worried.
Posted in Chapter 11 | News Blog | 20 comments
GM Chairman Scares Execs with Actual Expectations
By Edward NiedermeyerSeptember 4, 2009
Fritz Henderson got a thumbs-up from the Board of Directors just days ago, but it seems that Chairman Ed Whitacre doesn’t want anyone to get comfortable. The Freep’s Tom Walsh just posted a column describing GM execs as “rattled” by Whitacre’s recent revelation that at the New GM executives must earn their keep.
On Wednesday, Whitacre told a group of GM salaried staff — in one of several “diagonal slice” meetings, so called because they mix people from all levels — that he expects to see lots of changes in the next 12 weeks. Changes every day.
So, is the party over? Surely GM’s brass knew that there would be some accountability, someday. Right?
Posted in Chapter 11 | News Blog | People | 19 comments
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