Chrysler Group to be sold for $7.4 billion

The United Auto Workers’ endorsement of the transaction was a shift from earlier this year, when UAW President Ron Gettelfinger warned that a private equity buyer would “strip and flip” the company by selling it off in pieces.

Gettelfinger, speaking on WJR-AM in Detroit, said he made a last-minute pitch to keep Chrysler with Daimler over the weekend, but when that failed, he decided to embrace the Cerberus purchase.

“We did make a last-ditch effort pitch this weekend in Stuttgart with Dr. Zetsche about maintaining the status quo. That appeared to be less and less an option. He made it unequivocally clear it was no longer an option. He spent an hour and a half taking us through the entire selection process,” Gettelfinger said.

“We made the pitch all the way home that we wanted the Chrysler Group to stay under the Daimler umbrella but it’s not there. The decision has been made, we’re supportive of it.”

“We’re going to close that past chapter. We’re going to move forward.”

More on the Chrysler deal Can a Cerberus deal help out Chrysler? Chrysler Group to be sold for $7.4 billion Deal could be risky for buyout firm Some workers wary of Cerberus deal   Video: Can what's broken be fixed?   Video: Why Cerberus wants to do deal   Video: Automaker now to go private   Video: Private equity to the rescue   Discuss: A good move for both parties?

Canadian Auto Workers President Buzz Hargrove said he was assured that the collective bargaining agreement with Chrysler would be honored and that no jobs would be eliminated.

Analysts said last week that Magna International founder and Chairman Frank Stronach was the likely leading bidder for Chrysler. Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, who tried to take control of Chrysler in the 1990s, also had said he would make a bid, but that was apparently spurned.

Zetsche announced Feb. 14 that all options were open for Chrysler, which lost $1.5 billion last year and is undergoing a restructuring plan that will eventually shed 13,000 jobs.

Snow said the deal was a sign of faith in Chrysler, an iconic American brand and third-largest U.S. carmaker behind General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.

Norris Freeman III, 33, of Detroit, a 12-year Chrysler employee who works the line at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, was skeptical of the move.

“I don’t think Cerberus is going to do us any justice. I think Kirk Kerkorian had a better interest in us. I think Cerberus is in it just for the money,” he said.

Cerberus also has former Vice President Dan Quayle as an adviser. David W. Thursfield, who used to run Ford in Europe, is a senior member of the operations team in Cerberus’ automotive and industrial practice. And Wolfgang Bernhard, former Chrysler chief operating officer, is a newcomer to Cerberus.

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