Today's news that Cerberus has become the leading candidate to acquire DCX's troubled Chrysler Group has put the UAW and CAW into bunker mode, employees on edge and upset what seemed to be the predetermined outcome; a Magna takeover.
Cerberus, perhaps best known for rapid growth in recent years, is a hedge firm that specializes in acquiring distressed companies and instituting drastic measures to make them profitable again.
The fund led the group which acquired a 51 percent stake in GMAC from General Motors last year. Its experience in running an automotive company such as Chrysler is nonexistent although they have hired Wolfgang Bernhard, Chrysler's president between 2001-2004.
More importantly, it was one of the lead financiers of Delphi's bankruptcy and demanded another round of steep concessions from the UAW which has put Delphi and the autoworkers union on the warpath towards a strike. The UAW/CAW have never been supportive of a hedge fund bid fearing the buyer chop and shop the venerable automaker and were supportive of the Magna bid, with the UAW going so far as to prepare a framework for concessions, Automotive News reported recently.[Source 4wheelsblog.com ]
