http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php...asset-auction/

Chrysler seeks quick asset auction

May 3rd, 2009
by Bill Cawthon
On Monday, May 4, Chrysler LLC will file a motion to sell most of its assets to a new company managed by Fiat SpA.
In a bid to keep its time in bankruptcy short, the Detroit automaker will ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to approve an alliance with Fiat and schedule an auction within three weeks. The company hopes Judge Arthur Gonzales will require objections be filed by May 11 so the auction can be scheduled for May 22.
The new company would bid $2 billion for most of Chrysler’s assets and assume some liabilities. The remainder of Chrysler’s assets, including an estimated eight plants, would be sold off through traditional Chapter 11 channels. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is reported to be reviewing all of Chrysler’s assets, looking for “white elephants” to unload.
The new company will be owned by the UAW’s Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association [[VEBA), Fiat and the U.S. and Canadian governments. Cerberus Capital Management will not have any stake and, contrary to many statements, the United Auto Workers union will not have any direct ownership of the new company as the VEBA is an entirely separate organization with an independent board of directors.
President Obama has given Chrysler 60 days to complete an alliance with Fiat.
Chrysler’s holdout creditors still could present a challenge to the quick exit plans by objecting to the auction but it is not certain they would prevail, considering the pre-auction Treasury offers of about $0.33 cents on the dollar for Chrysler’s $6.9 billion debt.