U.S. Treasury Announces Agreement to Sell Remaining Stake in Chrysler

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Thursday that it reached an agreement to sell to Fiat Treasury's 6% stake in Chrysler Group LLC and Treasury's interest in an agreement with the UAW retiree trust. The expected proceeds from the sale are $560 million, and Fiat agreed to pay $500 million itself. “As Treasury exits its investment in Chrysler, it's clear that President Obama's decision to stand behind and restructure this company was the right one,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “Today, America's automakers are mounting one of the most improbable turnarounds in recent history – creating new jobs and making new investments in communities across our country.” Treasury committed a total of $12.5 billion toward Chrysler's bailout. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, and Fiat has been buying parts of the company since. In late May Chrysler repaid $5.1 billion in TARP loans to Treasury and lost its ability to use a remaining $2.1 billion TARP loan facility. According to the Treasury website, "Chrysler will have returned more than $11.2 billion of that amount to taxpayers through principal repayments, interest, and cancelled commitments. Treasury is unlikely to fully recover the difference of $1.3 billion."