Obama to send Chrysler into bankruptcy

President Barack Obama aims to announce tomorrow that Chrysler LLC will be placed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leading to an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA, people involved in the matter said. Administration officials are still resolving outstanding issues, and the plan isn’t finished yet, said one of the people, who declined to be named because discussions are private.

As part of ongoing negotiations, the U.S. Treasury raised its offer to Chrysler’s lenders, offering them $2.25 billion in cash to forgive $6.9 billion in secured debt, two other people familiar with the matter said. The previous offer had been for $2 billion in cash.

Any bankruptcy filing could come as soon as tomorrow, people familiar with that matter said.

Chrysler’s best assets would be sold to a new entity that would have an ownership structure similar to that envisioned in an out-of-court deal between the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker and Fiat, based in Turin, Italy, the people said.

The Italian company would become a 20 percent owner of Chrysler, and a union retiree health-care trust fund would own 55 percent, with the rest of the company staying in the government’s hands initially, the people said. Bloomberg