奧巴馬不组，克萊斯勒申請破產。Chrysler begins bankruptcy

CEO納德利下台‧克萊斯勒申請破產
國際財經 2009-05-01 19:17 http://biz.sinchew-i.com/node/22804

底特律的克萊斯勒職員聆聽奧巴馬宣佈公司申請破產的消息。
（華盛頓／底特律）由於未能與債權人達成協議，美國總統奧巴馬宣佈，克萊斯勒（Chrysler）將根據《破產法》第11章申請破產保護。
由於向克萊斯勒提供了運營資金，美國政府一直在負責這間公司的重組談判。美國政府預計，破產重組進程會相對快速，最短可能會在30至60天內完成。
美國政府週四（4月30日）承諾，將再提供80億美元幫助克萊斯勒走出破產狀態。政府已經向這間公司提供40多億美元資金。
克萊斯勒已與意大利車廠飛霞（Fiat）簽署結盟，後者將是克萊斯勒重生後的主要股東。新的董事部將在飛霞的同意下，選出新任首席執行員。按照結盟計劃，飛霞將向克萊斯勒提供小型節油車型的技術。
克萊斯勒首席執行員納德利（Bob Nardelli）在寄給員工的電子郵件中表示，結束破產保護後，他將交接離職，轉任公司大股東私募基金博龍（Cerberus）的顧問。

他強調，這並不是奧巴馬政府提出的要求。
他強調，克萊斯勒加拿大、墨西哥和其他國際營運事業都並不納入破產申請的一部份。
對克萊斯勒而言，申請破產保護和與飛霞達成的協議，將帶來結束多年持續虧損和市場分額下降的機會。這家汽車製造商一直面臨勞動力和生產成本居高不下的局面，根據與工會的協議，它還要向11萬5000名退休人員提供高額的醫療和其他福利。

克萊斯勒去年陷入更加困難的境地，汽油價格的飆升讓消費者紛紛放棄購買運動型多用途車（SUV）等耗油車，而這些車型一直是這間公司主要的利潤來源。與此同時，克萊斯勒多年來對小型車重視不夠，因此當消費者開始青睞這類車型時，這間公司幾乎沒有甚麼選擇餘地。
星洲日報／財經‧2009.04.30

Chrysler to close 5 more plants; court case begins
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Chrysler-to-close-5-more-apf-15108853.html
Chrysler begins bankruptcy proceedings as documents reveal plans to close 5 more plants
Bree Fowler and Vinnee Tong, AP Business Writers
On Friday May 1, 2009, 8:31 pm EDT
Buzz up! Print Related:General Motors Corporation
NEW YORK (AP) -- Attorneys for Chrysler LLC said the company will file a motion by Saturday to sell substantially all of its assets to Italian automaker Fiat Group SpA, but that won't include eight plants, including five that the automaker revealed it will shutter by the end of next year.

While Chrysler faced its first hearing Friday in Manhattan bankruptcy court, court documents showed the ailing automaker plans to close plants in Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin that employ about 4,800 people. Chrysler said they will be offered jobs at other plants.

The company also announced President and Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda is retiring effective immediately.
Judge Arthur Gonzalez approved a series of motions at Friday's swift hearing, launching a chain of events designed to ensure Chrysler's bankruptcy process is the quick and "surgical" one the company and the U.S. government have promised.

But what could prove to be the case's biggest challenge still lies ahead. Chrysler must eventually deal with creditors who refused to come to a deal that would have erased much of the automaker's debt and might have avoided a bankruptcy filing in the first place.

Another hearing was scheduled for Monday morning, where Chrysler attorneys will ask Gonzalez to let the company start using $4.5 billion in loans from the U.S. and Canadian governments to keep operating under bankruptcy protection.

Chrysler attorney Corinne Ball, of the firm Jones Day, said the loans and the sale to Fiat represent "an important lifeline" for Chrysler's dealers, supplies and customers.
"We have to move at a good speed throughout this proceeding," she told Gonzalez.
Gonzalez wasted no time, opening the meeting with just five words: "Please be seated. Debtor's counsel?"

Later, Gonzalez twice cut off an attorney representing Chrysler's dealers, then said, "I think you've gotten your point across."
By the end of the hearing, the judge had decided six motions in about an hour.

Chrysler, the nation's third-largest car manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday after a group of creditors defied government pressure to wipe out the automaker's debt. The company plans to emerge in as little as 30 days as a leaner, more nimble company, with Fiat potentially becoming the majority owner.

In return, the federal government agreed to give Chrysler up to $8 billion in additional financing, on top of the $4 billion the company already has received.

Ball said that lawyers on Monday would ask to set a date for the first hearing on the sale of Chrysler's assets to the "new Chrysler." In bankruptcy, assets are sold in a two-part process during which the court asks for competing bids. None are expected in Chrysler's case, since documents show the company already tried to form alliances with dozens of companies, including Nissan-Renault, Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen and even General Motors Corp.

Heidi Sorvino, bankruptcy partner at Smith, Gambrell & Russell LLP, said a sale could be completed in 30 days to 60 days.

"I think the sale will happen quickly," she said. "The actual proceeding is going to take a long time."

Until the deal with Fiat closes, the automaker plans to idle all of its plants in the U.S. Chrysler's Canadian assembly plants also halted production Friday because of parts shortages stemming from the U.S. shutdown.

In court documents, Chrysler said it won't keep its Sterling Heights, Mich., plant that makes Chrysler Sebrings and Dodge Avengers, and the Conner Avenue plant in Detroit that makes Dodge Vipers. The St. Louis North plant that makes Dodge Ram pickups would also close.

Chrysler's Twinsburg, Ohio, parts stamping plant and Kenosha, Wis., engine plant will also be shuttered.

Two other plants that will be left out of the Fiat sale are the St. Louis South plant and an assembly plant in Newark, Del., that were idled last year. Another facility, Chrysler's Detroit Axle plant, is already scheduled to be replaced by a new factory near Port Huron, Mich.

The "new Chrysler" would lease the eight plants, then shutter them by December 2010.

"While some facilities may close, substantially all Chrysler employees will be offered employment with the new company," Chrysler spokeswoman Dianna Gutierrez said. "Employees currently located at a facility identified for disposition will be offered a position at one of the facilities sold to the new company."

At Friday's hearing, Gonzalez's large courtroom quickly filled with lawyers and other observers, and two overflow rooms with video and audio feeds were opened to accommodate the crowds. The hearing was briefly halted after a woman standing in the warm and stuffy courtroom apparently fainted.

Gonzalez approved Chrysler's motion to allow the automaker to pay $48.8 million in employee and contract worker pre-bankruptcy wages, benefits and businesses expenses. The motion also references an estimated $86 million in employee vacation benefits that it may not ultimately have to pay.

The judge also approved Chrysler's motions that will let it continue to honor its warranties and continue its current banking practices.

It's uncertain when Gonzalez will face objections from the creditors that hold $6.9 billion of the automaker's debt.

Four banks holding 70 percent of the debt agreed to a deal that would give the lenders 29 cents on the dollar. But a collection of hedge funds refused to budge, saying the deal was unfair because they deserve to recover more than other creditors like the United Auto Workers.

President Barack Obama on Thursday chastised the funds for seeking an "unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout" after Chrysler and his auto task force cleared the company's other hurdles, including the Fiat deal and a cost-cutting pact that the UAW ratified this week.

Chrysler's bankruptcy filing is the latest step in a drastic reordering of the American auto industry, which has been crushed by higher fuel prices, the recession and customer tastes that are moving away from the gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles that were once big money makers.

The government already has sunk about $25 billion in aid into Chrysler and rival General Motors.

GM faces its own day of reckoning on June 1, a date the administration has set for it to come up with its own restructuring plan. GM has announced thousands of job cuts, plans to idle factories for weeks this summer and has even offered the federal government a majority stake in the company as it races to meet the deadline.

Like at Chrysler, debt may be the stumbling block. GM has asked its unsecured bondholders to exchange $27 billion of debt for a 10 percent stake in the automaker. The creditors balked, saying that would leave them with just pennies on the dollar and that they deserve a majority stake if they give up their claims.