Nardelli: No more money from Cerberus

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli told members of Congress that Cerberus Capital Management had turned him down when he requested more funding. The statement came on Friday as Nardelli testified during hearings on the proposed bailout for the Detroit automakers.

Legislators have been especially critical of any assistance for privately held Chrysler, which is looking for $7 billion in loans and another $4 billion to $5 billion for Chrysler Financial to ease its liquidity crisis.

Representative Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) asked, “If the private equity company that currently has the major holding in Chrysler has $24 billion currently in assets and they will not put forth any more money to stave off bankruptcy, how can we, in all good conscience, expect the taxpayers to take on this substantial cost?”

Nardelli responded to the questioning by saying Cerberus is made up of many investors, such as pension and other funds, and is unable “to commit, on the behalf of those investors, to put more” money into Chrysler. At the same time, Nardelli said he had asked Cerberus for more money.

“We’ve asked them,” Nardelli said. “We’ve asked every major financial institution. All hundred of those that got TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funding, we’ve asked for funding. We’ve gone offshore asking for funding.”

Nardelli later commented that, despite the value of its holdings, Cerberus may not have the money to invest in Chrysler.