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It’s Official: DaimlerChrysler Completes Closing of Sale of Chrysler to Cerebus
3 August 2007
DaimlerChrysler today completed the closing for the transfer of a majority interest in the Chrysler Group and for the related financial services business in NAFTA to a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management.
A subsidiary of Cerberus takes over 80.1% in the Chrysler Holding LLC, while DaimlerChrysler retains a 19.9% interest, as announced in May 2007.
Due to the new corporate structure, DaimlerChrysler AG is to be renamed as Daimler AG. The shareholders are to decide on this change at an Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting in Berlin on 4 October 2007.
Today marks a new chapter in the history of our company. Based on the clearly defined strategies in our Mercedes Car Group, Truck Group, Financial Services business divisions and for vans and buses, and our company’s healthy balance sheet, we have every reason to move confidently into the future.
—Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of DaimlerChrysler AG and Head of the Mercedes Car Group
August 3, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Neil | August 03, 2007 at 01:58 PM
Neil:
Jurgen Schremp was the puppetmaster of the whole "merger of equals" as it was first called. He arranged the takeover, urr sorry, "merger", with Bob Eaton who was the successor to Lee Iacocca at Chrysler. If you would like to know more, I recommend reading Lee's excellent book, "Where have all the Leaders Gone?". It will give you his insider's perspective of how ridiculously stupid the whole idea was and how much it galled him to see his triumphant company spiral downward to the mess it is today. Sad story.
Posted by: Schmeltz | August 03, 2007 at 04:50 PM
Thx. Schmeltz
Posted by: Neil | August 03, 2007 at 06:24 PM
Neil and Schmeltz
I lived through the "merger of equals" and can tell you some of the details. Robert Eaton receved a package worth $245 million for helping to convince the stockholders that this was a smart thing to do.
Today the employees are happy to be rid of Daimler although they still own 20% of the company.
Some of the nonsense that was going on with Daimler in control was to charge Chrysler $200 in royalties for the production of a 19 year old obsolete Mercedes 5 speed transmission. There were several other questionable transactions in which Daimler or Mercedes were made to look good at the expense of the Chrysler group,
Hopefully better days are ahead!
Posted by: rca | August 04, 2007 at 06:14 AM
rca: I sure hope so. Are you still with the company?
Posted by: Neil | August 04, 2007 at 11:14 PM
Neil
I have been retired for 6 years. I find this web site to be an excellent place to receive information on energy and fuel conservation and emmissions technology. I have a subscription to Automotive Engineering and read the online versions of Wards Automotive and Automotive Industries.
Posted by: rca | August 05, 2007 at 06:29 PM
rca: I hope the sale to Cerberus leaves your pension securely funded.
Posted by: Neil | August 06, 2007 at 07:35 AM
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Out of curiosity ... who at Daimler was responsible for the purchase of Chrysler in the first place? Talk about culture clash! (As a Canadian married to a German, I know what I'm talking about)