Report: Chrysler buyers could emerge by the end of March

Report: Chrysler buyers could emerge by the end of March
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/UPDATE/703130432/1148/AUTO01


Potential Chrysler Group buyers could present offers for the struggling car
maker as soon as the end of this month, the Wall Street Journal reports
today.

Private equity firms including Cerberus Capital Management LLC, Blackstone
Group and Centerbridge Partners LP met with Chrysler management last week,
signing confidentiality agreements so they could review detailed financial
and product information.

Canadian parts supplier Magna International Inc. also has expressed interest
in Chrysler.

Chrysler parent DaimlerChrysler AG hopes to have a short list of potential
buyers by its general shareholders meeting in Berlin on April 4, the Journal
said.


2 equity firms are top contenders to buy Chrysler Group, analyst says
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/BUSINESS01/70313011/1014

The Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital Management LP, two private equity
firms, are the leading contenders to buy the Chrysler Group, according to an
analyst report issued Tuesday morning by KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Magna International Inc., a Canadian auto supplier that had been talking
with the Chrysler Group, was less likely to make a bid because it placed a
lower value on the Chrysler Group, the KeyBanc report said.

“While we believe MGA remains interested in taking significant action toward
Chrysler (alliance, partnership or minority stake), our sources indicate the
likelihood of such actions is now much reduced,” KeyBanc analyst Brett
Hoselton wrote in the report.

Magna Chairman Frank Stronach met with Chrysler Group CEO Tom LaSorda on
March 9, according to the report.

Magna showed interest in forming a partnership with a private equity firm.
Magna would run the Chrysler Group facilities while the private equity group
would put up
most of the money as the majority investor.

Magna, though, values the Chrysler Group at about $4 billion, the KeyBanc
report says. Private equity buyers have valued the Auburn Hills unit at
about $5 billion, it said.

“Our sources have indicated that Cerberus and Blackstone have emerged as the
leading contenders to acquire Chrysler and that due to valuation issues MGA
is now playing a smaller role in the sale process,” Hoselton wrote in the
report.

Cerberus and Blackstone, private equity firms that already have ties to the
auto industry, reportedly met with Chrysler Group officials last week in
Auburn Hills.

These firms, which have billions of dollars in investment money, specialize
in buying troubled companies and attempting to turn them around to make a
profit.


--
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and
comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great
devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best, knows the
triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least
fails while daring greatly.
T.R. April 10, 1899