Schrempp days are numbered and so is DC. Bahhahahahahaha
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February 2, 2001
BY DAN STETS, SILJE SKOGSTAD and
RETO GREGORIC
BLOOMBERG NEWS
FRANKFURT -- DaimlerChrysler AG, whose
shares have fallen 25 percent over the last year, has
lost the confidence of its major shareholders,
investors said.
Deutsche Bank AG, the
automaker's biggest owner,
is helping DaimlerChrysler
prepare a takeover defense
and boost its share price,
the bank's chief executive,
Rolf Breuer, said. Kirk
Kerkorian, the third-largest
investor, sued the company in November, claiming it
lied when it bought Chrysler Corp.
"Deutsche Bank can't be happy with the share
price," said Christoph Schmidt, who helps manage
3.5 billion deutsche marks ($1.7 billion) at Alte
Leipziger Trust, which has DaimlerChrysler shares.
CEO Juergen: "'Schrempp's days are probably
numbered."
Schrempp's strategy of turning the former
Daimler-Benz AG into one of the world's biggest
carmakers through acquisitions is faltering, investors
said. Chrysler, purchased in 1998 for $35 billion,
lost about $1.75 billion in the second half of last
year, and said Monday it was eliminating 26,000
jobs.
Christoph Walther, the world's No. 5 carmaker's
chief spokesman, yesterday denied a Reuters report
that DaimlerChrysler had hired Deutsche Bank
along with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to work on an
anti-takeover strategy or that it needed one. He said
a takeover of the company was "not an issue."
Walther today declined to comment.
"We have been hired to work out a defense
strategy," Breuer told journalists at a Frankfurt
briefing today. "There's no sign that would suggest
we need such a strategy now, but DaimlerChrysler's
low share price can give people ideas."
Kerkorian, who filed suit in U.S. District Court in
Wilmington, Delaware, seeking $9 billion in
damages and the breakup of the company, said
Schrempp lied to win support for its Chrysler
acquisition, billing it as "a merger of equals," while
Daimler really viewed it as a takeover.
Deutsche Bank
The Deutsche Bank CEO came to Schrempp's
defense after Kerkorian filed his suit. "Breuer has
said he believes DaimlerChrysler's management will
solve the problems at Chrysler and we stand by
that," said Deutsche Bank spokesman Ronald
Weichert on Nov. 28.
On Nov. 17, after Schrempp fired Chrysler CEO
James Holden and named Dieter Zetsche as his
replacement, Breuer also defended management.
"The fall of the share price doesn't make us happy
as a shareholder," Breuer said. "Still, the merger was
the right step and I'm sure that the management will
be able to overcome their problems."
Breuer today also said Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,
which advised on the creation of DaimlerChrysler,
isn't part of the current mandate. He didn't
elaborate. Deutsche Bank owns about 12 percent of
DaimlerChrysler.
Kerkorian-Like Move
Kerkorian, who had previously tried to take over
the old Chrysler, has since sold about half of 33
million shares in DaimlerChrysler. Analysts said a
takeover of the German carmaker appears unlikely,
adding that any bid mostly likely would be raised by
an investor such as Kerkorian.
"The only real possibility is a raider who could raise
$50 billion and then split up the company," said Falk
Frey, an analyst at Bank Julius Baer. "But it's a
pretty big risk for the raider."
He added the company itself didn't have many
options. It couldn't afford a share buyback, since it
needed cash for Chrysler and creating a new holding
structure might increase the transparency of the
company, though it wouldn't add value.
In its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, DaimlerChrysler said it doesn't have
any formal anti-takeover protection in its articles of
incorporation.
"There are no provisions in the articles that would
have an effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a
change of control of DaimlerChrysler and that would
only operate with respect to a merger, acquisition or
corporate restructuring involving it or any of its
subsidiaries," the report says.
DaimlerChrysler fell as much as 0.71 euro, or 1.4
percent, to 50.34 euros in Frankfurt. Its U.S. shares
were unchanged in New York.
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Steven St.Laurent
2000 Dakota Hemi 4.7 (WRECKED!!)
2000 Ford Roush Mustang Stage III - TT version (sold)
1999 Chebby (gone in 2003)
1993 Tracker (still going-going-going...)
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Aspiring for now:
2003 Dakota Hemi 5.7 or a V-10 mod
2003/4 Viper GTS-R
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