Cerberus

GMAC - and ergo General Motors - just got another Christmas present: the Federal Reserve has granted GMAC bank holding status. GMAC has billions of dollars of bonds coming due over the next 12 months, but doesn't have the liquidity to cover the obligations. As of last week, the financing company was in the midst of a bond buyback effort in order to raise enough money to qualify for bank holding status. Now that it's been granted, GMAC can tap the Troubled Asset Relief Fund intended for financial institutions, pay its debts and (probably) avoid bankruptcy.

GM doesn't just have its eye on auto bailout funds -- its GMAC division (of which it owns 49%) is looking for cash from among the $700 billion pledged in the Wall Street bailout. Through the end of next year, GMAC has roughly $12 billion in bonds maturing. But to have any chance at getting Wall Street funds to address those maturing bonds, GMAC wants to become a bank holding company. And to do that, it must raise $30 billion, with $2 billion of that tapped from new sources.

Daimler has already admitted that its 19.9% share in Chrysler is worth absolutely zero as far as its corporate balance sheets are concerned, but that's not stopping Cerberus from going after that remaining bit as it tries to become the sole owner of the beleaguered American automaker. Without full control of Chrysler, Cerberus would have a tough time offloading it in either one lump deal or in smaller, bit-by-bit transactions. But it sounds like Chrysler's majority owner isn't making life easy for Daimler, accusing the German entity of providing incomplete information about Chrysler and prolonging the actual sale that took place late in 2007. As you'd expect, Daimler is denying these accusations completely and is claiming that Cerberus is making outlandish demands to take the rest of the company off its German hands.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Viper ACR

In the latest development of The Incomprehensible Union, General Motors is reportedly asking the U.S. government for $10 billion -- on top of the $25 billion loan approved recently -- to help it merge with Chrysler. The supplemental infusion would give the government, i.e. you and me, a stake in the merged company in the form of preferred stock, would see the government taking over pension obligations and provide a credit line for operations.

So, just what is a 19.9% stake in America's third largest automaker worth? Um, nothing. So says Daimler, which owns exactly that amount. The German company claims that, for accounting purposes at least, there is absolutely no value in its part-ownership of Chrysler. Just about a year ago, Daimler estimated that its share of Chrysler was worth some $1.17 billion. The remaining 80.1% was sold to Cerberus Capital Management last August for $7.4 billion.

Click for hi-res gallery of the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT-10

Cerberus may be trying to offload Viper, but not before it gives over a million Americans the opportunity to pick one up at discounted prices. Until now the Viper remained outside Chrysler's Employee Purchase and Certain Designated Individuals discount program, but that's about to change as the supercar joins the list of eligible vehicles.

One aspect of the possible GM/Chrysler merger often overlooked is that Daimler didn't completely divest itself of its Chrysler ownership back in early 2007, and the German automaker's 19.9% stake could get in the way of any deal. Daimler has been clear that it is disinterested in becoming part of some Detroit super conglomerate, and Automotive News is reporting that Cerberus is close to a deal to buy up the remaining 19.9% stake. Also part of the rumor mill is possible involvement with Renault/Nissan, which has been actively working with Chrysler on collaboration projects in the past year.

It's been a crazy few days as news broke that Chrysler and General Motors have been in talks to combine operations. It turns out that there's a pretty significant back-story to these proceedings, and it involves Cerberus Capital Management's possible desire to shed its car-building operations and acquire the rest of GMAC, of which it already holds a controlling stake of 51%, with GM holding holding the other 49%. According to reports, Cerberus would like to combine Chrysler Financial with GMAC, which would allow it to merge the offices of the two financial institutions and reduce costs. All right, that might make some sense, but what about merging the two automakers?