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Vendaval -> "Cerebus to buy majority of Chrysler for 4.7 billion" (5/14/2007 4:46:09 AM)
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"Cerebus to buy majority of Chrysler for 4.7 billion"
By Michael Shields
" FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Private equity firm Cerberus will buy the majority of DaimlerChrysler's struggling Chrysler Group for $7.4 billion, breaking up a transatlantic car union that never lived up to its billing as a marriage made in heaven.
Cerberus Capital Management gets an 80.1 percent stake in Chrysler Group and its related financial services business, DaimlerChrysler said on Monday.
The deal, months in the making, puts a major U.S. automaker in hands of a private equity group for the first time.
It breaks up a product lineup that yoked American mass-market brands Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler with Germany's premium Mercedes-Benz, luxury Maybach and Smart minicar brands at a time of wrenching restructuring for the U.S. auto industry.
The former Daimler-Benz AG bought Chrysler for $36 billion in 1998.
The accord calls for Chrysler to retain billions of dollars in pension and healthcare obligations for its workers and will result in a net cash outflow of 0.5 billion euros ($677 million) for DaimlerChrysler, now the world's fifth-biggest carmaker.
The company estimated the sale will cut DaimlerChrysler's 2007 net profit by 3 to 4 billion euros, adding the German company will contribute 650 million euros to cover long-term liabilities at Chrysler. "
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSWEA280820070514
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