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DaimlerChrysler's Chairman Confirms It Is in Talks to Sell Beleaguered
Chrysler Unit
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
BERLIN - Confirming weeks of conjecture and rumor, DaimlerChrysler AG's
chairman said Wednesday that it has been in talks with people about the sale
of its struggling Chrysler unit.
"In this context, I can confirm that we are talking with some of the
potential partners who have shown a clear interest," chairman Dieter Zetsche
said before the company's annual shareholder meeting.
He did not name any of the companies that have been in talks.
Zetsche stunned the automotive world on Feb. 14 when he said that continued
losses and fierce competition in the United States meant that the
German-American automaker was considering all options for its Chrysler unit,
including a possible sale.
Zetsche did not say whether any decision to sell Chrysler had been made or
if the company was any closer to a solution.
"It is also true that we need to keep all options open, and that I cannot
disclose any details, because we need to have the maximum scope for
maneuver," he said in a copy of his remarks to shareholders released ahead
of the meeting.
The company's management requires "the greatest possible flexibility so that
we can identify and then professionally implement the best solution,"
Zetsche added.
Zetsche's announcement in February came after the U.S. unit's $1.5 billion
loss in 2006.
The company also said it would cut 13,000 jobs and reduce production
capacity by 400,000 units as part of a "recovery and transformation plan",
aimed at bringing Chrysler back into profitability by 2008.
No clear front-runner has yet emerged to buy Chrysler, but Canadian
auto-parts supplier Magna International Inc. reportedly has submitted a bid
to buy the business for as much as $4.7 billion.
Major private equity firms Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital Management
LLP also are rumored to be in the hunt.
At least some of the company's more than 1 million shareholders have been
pushing for a divorce - in both style and substance.
Shareholders Ekkehard Wenger and Leonhard Knoll put forward a motion calling
for the company to revert back to its original name, Daimler-Benz AG.
They argued in their motion that to "maintain a corporate name that evokes
associations with the failure of the business combination with Chrysler is
detrimental to the image of the corporation and its products."
DaimlerChrysler's Chairman Confirms It Is in Talks to Sell Beleaguered
Chrysler Unit
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
BERLIN - Confirming weeks of conjecture and rumor, DaimlerChrysler AG's
chairman said Wednesday that it has been in talks with people about the sale
of its struggling Chrysler unit.
"In this context, I can confirm that we are talking with some of the
potential partners who have shown a clear interest," chairman Dieter Zetsche
said before the company's annual shareholder meeting.
He did not name any of the companies that have been in talks.
Zetsche stunned the automotive world on Feb. 14 when he said that continued
losses and fierce competition in the United States meant that the
German-American automaker was considering all options for its Chrysler unit,
including a possible sale.
Zetsche did not say whether any decision to sell Chrysler had been made or
if the company was any closer to a solution.
"It is also true that we need to keep all options open, and that I cannot
disclose any details, because we need to have the maximum scope for
maneuver," he said in a copy of his remarks to shareholders released ahead
of the meeting.
The company's management requires "the greatest possible flexibility so that
we can identify and then professionally implement the best solution,"
Zetsche added.
Zetsche's announcement in February came after the U.S. unit's $1.5 billion
loss in 2006.
The company also said it would cut 13,000 jobs and reduce production
capacity by 400,000 units as part of a "recovery and transformation plan",
aimed at bringing Chrysler back into profitability by 2008.
No clear front-runner has yet emerged to buy Chrysler, but Canadian
auto-parts supplier Magna International Inc. reportedly has submitted a bid
to buy the business for as much as $4.7 billion.
Major private equity firms Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital Management
LLP also are rumored to be in the hunt.
At least some of the company's more than 1 million shareholders have been
pushing for a divorce - in both style and substance.
Shareholders Ekkehard Wenger and Leonhard Knoll put forward a motion calling
for the company to revert back to its original name, Daimler-Benz AG.
They argued in their motion that to "maintain a corporate name that evokes
associations with the failure of the business combination with Chrysler is
detrimental to the image of the corporation and its products."
