NEW YORK - The judge overseeing Chrysler's bankruptcy protection case says the automaker can use US$4.5 billion in government loans for bankruptcy financing while it works toward a sale of the company's assets to Italian automaker Fiat.
Judge Arthur Gonzalez on Monday also approved the payment of $8 billion in pre-bankruptcy taxes, customer and dealer obligations, and essential supplier claims.
Lawyers for a group of the company's lenders had argued that Gonzalez should deny the use of the financing because it was tied to the proposed sale to Fiat Group SpA.
The group wants to block the sale because it says the deal unfairly gives Chrysler's workers, suppliers dealers and other stakeholders priority over the Auburn Hills, Mich., company's secured creditors.
Gonzalez postponed a decision on whether Chrysler can start the process of transferring its assets to a new entity partnered with Italian automaker Fiat until Tuesday afternoon because the company did not file its motion until late Sunday and people with objections need more time to review the deal.
A group of Chrysler's lenders have refused to wipe out most of Chrysler's debt and go along with the government's restructuring plan. A lawyer for some of the creditors, Tom Lauria, said they have not had time to review Chrysler's 300-page filing.
Lauria also objected to a Chrysler motion to allow the automaker to pay taxes, and he indicated that he also would object to the payment of other costs and expenses. He said if the sale to Fiat fails to go through, any money spent would be taking away from what left for the lenders later.
"We're opposing at this point everything that the debtor is doing that is premised on the assumption that value that would be preserved through the sale," he said. "Because if we didn't have the sale, none of these actions make sense.
"What we're doing is spending money today that we're going to have to fight to get back later."
Lauria, whose group includes lenders such as OppenheimerFunds Inc. and Stairway Capital Management, also said that some of the holdout lenders have asked to remain anonymous for now, citing fears about their safety.
"People in the group have received death threats that they believe to be bona fide and contacts with the police have been made," Lauria said.
Chrysler, the third-largest U.S. car manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy protection last week. The company plans to emerge in 30 to 60 days as a leaner company, with Fiat Group SpA potentially becoming the majority owner.
The biggest obstacle to the plan appears to be Chrysler's secured lenders who hold $6.9 billion of the company's debt.
Four banks holding 70 per cent of the debt agreed to a deal that would give the lenders 29 cents on the dollar. But a collection of hedge funds refused to budge, saying the deal was unfair because they deserve to recover more than other creditors like the United Auto Workers.
President Barack Obama on Thursday chastised the funds for seeking an "unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout" after Chrysler and his auto task force cleared the company's other hurdles, including the Fiat deal and a cost-cutting pact that the UAW ratified last week.
