Articles tagged with: Chrysler

Chrysler LLC Bankruptcy – Supplier $1,000,000 Cure Cost Club

Chrysler LLC has filed 4 (the original and 1 amendment and 2 supplemental) lists of Assumed Designated Supplier Contracts and Cure Costs.  Undoubtedly, there are changes that will be made.  The lists to date have already undergone substantial objection and in many instances Chrysler and the Supplier are on different planets in terms of Cure Cost amounts.

For any Tier 2 Supplier, however, it is still important to determine if its Tier 1 customer is on the list.  There is at least one big surprise omission from the assumed contract list.

Chrysler LLC Bankruptcy – Supplier Contract Cure Costs Horrors

A scanning of the “Cure Costs” objections shows a brewing mess that might hamper (depending on how the various objections are handled by the judge) the planned speedy sale to new Chrysler.  Whether the extent of the problems raises a red flag for Fiat has yet to be seen.  For any Merger and Acquisition lawyer these problems certainly would yield sleepless nights.

The Primary Objection – Cure Cost Amounts

The objection common to the vast majority of filings is that the cure amount is incorrect. This was to be expected. What was not expected and what is somewhat alarming is the magnitude of several of the alleged Chrysler understatements of Cure Costs.

How Many Lawyers Can Fit in a Chrysler … Bankruptcy?

In manufacturing and particularly in the automotive sector, lean means eliminating waste; single-piece flow, 5s activities, value stream mapping …. . All that effort to save what might be less than 1 penny per piece attributable to waste. So what does lean manufacturing have to do with the bankruptcy of Chrysler … absolutely nothing and absolutely everything. It just depends on how you define the end of the manufacturing process.

So if you define the process of manufacture to end with the receipt of indefeasible, final payment for goods produced, the question is, in a world economy with international competition, “How Many Lawyers Can Fit in a Chrysler Bankruptcy”

Chrysler LLC Bankruptcy – Asset Sale Fairness Opinion

Chrysler has filed a “Declaration of Bradley A. Robins in Support of the Sale of the Debtors Assets to New Chrysler” (click document name to view) that includes as an attachment a fairness opinion of Greenhill & Co LLC.  The fairness opinion relies heavily on a liquidation analysis of Capstone Advisory Group, LLC.  That Liquidation Analysis concluded that “the value range” from a Chrysler asset liquidation (i.e. not as a going concern)  “is $0.9bn to $3.2bn on an undiscounted basis”

Chrysler LLC Bankruptcy – Scheduling of First Day Motion Hearing

The hearing on the most significant and controversial first day motions is scheduled for May 4, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 523 at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Alexander Hamilton Custom House, One Bowling Green, New York, New York 10004 1408.  Chrysler has given notice of the agenda for the hearing. The failure to obtain a hearing on the more significant first day motions on May 1 should be viewed as a setback for Chrysler. 

Chrysler LLC – 50 Largest Unsecured Bankruptcy Creditors

[Update May 29, 2009: Please note that the following Largest Unsecured Creditor list is taken from the Chrysler LLC bankruptcy filing. Subsequently, Chrysler published a “Designated Supplier Contract” list with “Cure Costs”. This list bears no resemblance to the original largest unsecured creditor list. You can look at the subsequent list by clicking on the following link to the post “Chrysler LLC Bankruptcy – Supplier $1,000,000 Cure Cost Club“.]

Chrysler LLC has requested authority to file a consolidated list of the 50 largest unsecured creditors of the 25 Chrysler and affiliated Debtors (the “Top 50 List”) in lieu of a separate list for each of the Debtors. The Top 50 List is based on the Debtors’ books and records as of approximately April 30, 2009. The Top 50 List does not include: (1) persons who come within the definition of “insider”; or (2) secured creditors, unless the value of the collateral is such that the unsecured deficiency places the creditor among the holders of the 50 largest unsecured claims.

The amounts owed to each of the unsecured creditors is listed as trade debt. In fact, the list is a who’s who of Tier 1 suppliers.

The Top 50 List in order of size is:

Chrysler LLC Bankruptcy – Debtors and Petitions

4-30-2009 Chrysler LLC and 24 affiliated entities (“Debtors”) filed a petitions in Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for relief under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code.  Contemporaneously with the filing of their petitions, the Debtors filed a motion requesting that the Court consolidate their chapter 11 cases for administrative purposes only.

The following are the names, case numbers and copies of the bankruptcy petitions.