FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                              
Friday, April 24, 2009                                                                                                                   

CONTACT: Cullen Schwarz
Office: (202) 225-5802

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Gary Peters, whose Michigan Congressional district is home to Chrysler World Headquarters, released the following statement in response to reports of a counteroffer from Chrysler’s debt holders:

“With this new offer Chrysler’s debt holders are still asking for much more than market value for their holdings, which amounts to a taxpayer subsidy.  Today’s offer was still far from reasonable.  I am pleased that the pace of negotiations has accelerated and am hopeful that debt holders will accept a fair deal so that Chrysler can avoid bankruptcy and hundreds of thousands of families will be protected.”

The four major financial institutions holding the vast majority of Chrysler’s secured debt are JP Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.  Congressman Peters wrote to the CEOs of these companies on April 1 asking them to negotiate in good faith with Chrysler to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with the automaker.  At that time, Chrysler’s debt holders were not even at the bargaining table.  While it took the banks nearly two weeks to issue a counteroffer in response to Treasury’s first offer earlier this month, this offer comes less than 48 hours after Treasury’s most recent offer extended Wednesday.

Chrysler debt is currently trading around 15 cents on the dollar.  Moody’s Investor Service estimated this week that debt holders could expect to recover 20 cents on the dollar in liquidation.