Chrysler

By Abid Ali in Business on February 23rd, 2010
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
There’s a stench of protectionism over the US reaction to Toyota’s troubles.
 
The hysteria in political circles is overdone and reminds me of the time Dubai decided to buy P&O’s ports. Dubai was forced to hand over the reigns to the US ports because it posed a threat to national security.
 
Dubai did what it has always done; it spent millions of dollars on a public relations offensive. It came as no surprise that some in the United States did not know where Dubai was. But those from the US media who were flown to the emirate were surprised at what they saw when they arrived in Dubai – a modern, prosperous emirate. Something you assumed they did not associate with the Middle East.
 
By John Terrett in Business on June 10th, 2009

The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for the sale of Chrysler to Fiat, allowing the third biggest U.S. automaker to emerge from bankruptcy protection within the next few days.

The Court rejected an appeal by a group of Indiana state pension funds that wanted Chrysler’s sale to the Italians blocked on the grounds it was too hasty.

The move came on the same day a bankruptcy judge approved Chrysler’s plan to terminate 789 of its dealer franchises.

Elsewhere in the United States, ten of the biggest banks were given permission to return government cash that was given to them at the hight of the financial crisis.

This was a remarkably swift judgement by the U.S. Supreme Court.

By John Terrett in Business on June 8th, 2009

The United States Supreme Court has delayed the sale of automaker Chrysler to the Italian car giant Fiat.

The Court will review the sale to see if its fully legal.

This could throw a major spanner in the works for the Obama Administration’s plans to get Chrysler out of bankruptcy protection with a quick sale to car giant Fiat of Italy.

A bankruptcy judge in New York and a lower court had already approved the deal, pending an appeal.

Now the Supreme Court will weigh in.

A temporary freeze to the merger has been ordered until they decide how to proceed.

The intervention comes after representatives for three pension funds from the Midwestern state of Indiana – funds representing teachers and police officers - sought greater compensation for the portion of Chrysler’s almost seven billion dollar debt they own.

By Abid Ali in Business on May 19th, 2009

Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s chief executive, evidently thinks he knows something that the rest of the automotive world has yet to work out. How to make a auto merger work.

In his pursuit to create the world’s second-largest car maker Fiat will gobble up Chrysler as well as taking on General Motor’s European and Latin American assets including the Opel, Saab and Vauxhall brands.

But it is worth looking at the wreckage from previous high-profile mergers.

BMW gave up on Rover selling it for just $14, while it also offloaded Land Rover and Jaguar for a more impressive $3 billion to Ford.

Ford in turn cut their losses and offloaded Land Rover and Jaguar to India’s Tata for $2.3 billion. Ford also failed to make Austin Martin a viable concern and is currently courting bids to relieve itself of Volvo.

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