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...Bailing Out the Big Three With regard to Bill Saporito's story, I have no sympathy for the Big Three automakers [Dec. 15]. For decades, Ford, GM and Chrysler fiercely opposed restructuring and green technology while egregiously mismanaging their businesses. The only reason they've gotten religion is that they're on the verge of bankruptcy. Mark Stuart Ellison, BROOKLYN...
Today, Cerberus is backing out of those arrangements, ceding some control of its Detroit institutions in return for rich infusions of government aid. The first infusion came on December 19th when President Bush announced that Chrysler, along with GM, would receive $13.4 billion of emergency loans from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) after Congress had refused to pass a separate bailout bill. On Christmas Eve Cerberus got another last-minute gift when the Federal Reserve Board voted to permit GMAC to change its status to a bank holding company. (GM still owns 49% of GMAC). (See pictures...
...part of the Federal Reserve deal, both GM and Cerberus will reduce their stakes in GMAC, a company decimated by the crisis in residential loans. Although created originally to finance GM's car sales, GMAC also got into residential mortgages, including the subprime variety. Result: GMAC has lost $8 billion over the past two years. Cerberus will distribute shares to its investors, thereby reducing its voting stake to 14.9% and its overall equity stake to 33%. GM will transfer some of its shares to a trust, which will sell off the stock over the next three years...
...blue for Chrysler, Cerberus' other problem child. Though the billions in TARP aid President Bush authorized for Chrysler and GM will buy Chrysler some time, there are difficult issues ahead. Unless labor costs can be brought down to parity with the foreign transplants, and without the restructuring of Chrysler's debt, the company cannot be restored to long-term health and the government loan will be unlikely to be fully repaid. (Read about GM's, Ford's and Chrysler's bailout plans...
...However, GM, the only suitor to emerge this fall, has said it's no longer interested; another potential suitor, Russian tycoon Oleg Deripeska, is fighting to keep his own empire from being shredded by economic distress. Renault-Nissan, a third potential suitor, is pulling back in the face of what its chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, has warned could be a long global downturn...