Former U.S. Treasury secretary, John Snow, is now the chairman of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. He was fairly talkative today. On CNBC, Snow mentioned that Cerberus has no plans to go public. Although, as we've seen in the private equity world, opinions can change quickly.
And, yes, he had some things to say about Cerberus' $7.4 billion purchase of Chrysler. Despite rumors to the contrary, he said the deal is on track. In fact, there are no immediate plans to sell it (but, again, keep in mind that opinions can change – especially if there is a pretty good offer on the table).
Interestingly enough, Snow believes that the auto industry is poised for a comeback. So why sell off the asset?
But, at the same time, Snow is very concerned that Congress's new fuel economy regulations will be detrimental to companies like Chrysler, Ford (NYSE: F), and GM (NYSE: GM).
He even thinks it could result in higher costs and capital requirements for the Chrysler deal. But Snow predicts the regulations will be softened.
Then again, he definitely needs to be upbeat. After all, Cerberus is going on a road show to raise billions for the Chrysler deal and the debt markets are getting a bit jittery right now.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.
