Today's Chrysler Court Action: The Sharks Feed
More documents were filed in the Chrysler bankruptcy case. TTAC ace commentator and bankruptcy briefer, Toxicroach, gives us the 411 on the latest C11 maneuvers:
“Only four events today as of 5 p.m., only one of value. Either I misread prior docket entries or the 5/1/09 hearing was just to set a date for the real hearing, but the hearing on the emergency motions (first day motions is what they have been calling them) will be 5/4/09 at 10 a.m. I imagine it will be a zoo in Courtroom 523 this Monday. Still no bankruptcy ‘fast track’ 363 motion.
“It’s the weekend and it looks like the court is not active, so it looks like the earliest possible date for the transfer for assets is now 5/25/09. If they file the 363 motion on Monday and get the hearing set, it would fall on 5/24, except that is a Sunday. So 5/25 is the absolute earliest to get the sale done.
“Addendum to the 5/1/09 Report. There were two items of note filed late on 5/1/09: Application for employment from Capstone to the be financial analysts for Chrysler ( download pdf here). The free arrangement is on page 36 (can’t cut and paste this one). They get paid (handsomely) hourly, and they get $8M if they can successfully restructure Chrysler (with the Treasury in your pocket, is there any doubt?), and a $1M bonus for each billion dollars of financing they ‘acquire’ for Chrysler. Once again, we already know who is financing NewCo and for roughly what . . . but I digress. They’re also asking for a $2M dollar retainer.
“The other item is a statement by Bradley Robins (CEO of Greenhill, another financial advisor to Chrysler), basically saying that other than this deal, Chrysler is utterly boned and this is the only option to save 50,000 jobs. Read it all, it’s pretty interesting ( download pdf here).
“Apparently, the ‘master transaction agreement’ was still in draft form as of 4/29/09, so the deal is still being negotiated. Key points: 1) Chrysler would run out of our of money by the end of the month; 2) they don’t have any unencumbered assets with which to raise money; 3) nobody but Fiat will touch them with a ten foot pole; 4) the market really, really sucks; and 5) the government won’t give them any more money unless they do it this way.”
More by Robert Farago
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It is amazing that this company lasted through the 1950's. For every one thing right they did, they did nine things wrong. Bunch of chuckleheads peddling third rate products from day one. Truly Amazing
ajla: "@Nicolas Weaver: Ford realized that “trucks will be trucks” is the future, rather than the “trucks for the yuppies”, and did last minute changes in product design and product mix, to refocus away from the suburban yuppie-truck. Ford still makes the “Lariat”, “King Ranch”, and “Platinum” levels for the F-series. Plus the SVT Raptor is on the way. So it isn’t like Ford abandoned the “suburban yuppie-truck” market." And Dodge makes a "real" work truck. The heavy duty Ram 2500 - 5500. If you look them up you will see they compare favoribly with the Ford F250 - 550. The light duty Ram 1500 can tow 8000 lbs. without breaking a sweat but still has a nicer ride when it's not working. Remember a lot of guys that use their light duties for work use it for persanal transportation as well. They are not big companies but small businesses and they don't have enough money to buy a truck for work and a truck for pleasure. The Ram plays in both worlds better the F150. Better ride, more storage. Slare: "Hey, you guys remember the time someone said Dodge builds the best trucks on the planet? Seriously, did that really happen?" It also happened in 1994.