Private equity investors closed in on Chrysler on Tuesday as rival automakers at the Geneva car show displayed scant interest in DaimlerChrysler's loss-making US division. US-based buyout firm The Blackstone Group has approached Chrysler and been granted access to its books in preparation for a possible bid, a person familiar with the situation said.
But he said there was no guarantee that the firm, already an investor in Germany's Deutsche Telekom, would make an offer for Chrysler. Chrysler, the most dependent of the big Detroit carmakers on light trucks and sport utility vehicles at a time of high fuel prices, had a 2006 operating loss of 1.12 billion euros ($1.47 billion) and launched a restructuring plan that will cut 13,000 jobs and close a plant as it tries to return to profit by 2008.
Blackstone, which has experience in the industry as majority owner of TRW Automotive and formerly as an investor in American Axle and Manufacturing, declined to comment.
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