Behind the scenes look at how Chrysler broke away from government control.
From AutoNews.com:
NEW YORK – On the morning of May 24, an upbeat Sergio Marchionne was combing his music library to compile a playlist for an employee event that afternoon at Chrysler Group LLC’s headquarters.
As the chief executive settled on Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Eyes on the Prize,” he received a phone call with long-awaited news: Chrysler finally repaid $7.6 billion of bailout loans from the U.S. and Canadian governments.
That day marked a new chapter in the comeback of the smallest of Detroit’s three automakers, the one the Obama administration wasn’t sure was worth saving back in 2009.
It was the Italian businessman’s deep involvement in Chrysler, and Fiat SpA’s willingness to put in $1.27 billion, that helped the company pull off one of the largest debt deals since the financial crisis — winning the backing of some of the same banks that were wiped out in its bankruptcy.
Investors who looked at the deal were initially skeptical about the large size of the financing as Chrysler still had to address concerns over its vehicle lineup and financial outlook, people involved in the process said. There were also questions over whether the company had really transformed itself.
