Chrysler IPO Still a Go, Date Unknown

Having witnessed its brother into bankruptcy, GM make a monumental comeback when it filed its initial public offering last year, Chrysler is now weighing its options for a similar move. The idea of a Chrysler IPO, probably the single way through which the car maker will be able to shed all those creditors, is not new and, according to Chrysler's CEO, the Italian Sergio Marchionne, it is also not an option for the near future.

Holding the Chrysler IPO back is the need of cash both the company and one of its major shareholders, the United Auto Workers health care trust, have. Or more precisely, their lack off need for cash. In Marchionne's view, filing an IPO should not be taken hastily.

"If those two needs are not there, then the IPO of Chrysler may or may not become relevant," Marchionne was quoted as saying by MSNBC at a Fiat shareholders meeting.

"It is rational, maybe reasonable, to expect that there will be an IPO. It can't be done very quickly. We just filed with the SEC, we're still working our way through the comments. We have to get ready to be a public company again, and issuing securities takes time. We should do it properly."

It GM's case, the IPO proved to be the wise choice to make. Although the American giant had already paid a portion of its debt prior to the filing, the huge amount of cash generated by a public listing transformed the move into the biggest such action in American corporate history.