No changes expected from Chrysler Deal

A private investment group is buying most of Chrysler Group from automaker DaimlerChrysler AG, which buys components manufactured at export plants in Reynosa and Matamoros.

But officials at local maquiladoras, as the Mexican plants are called, said they don’t expect a change in ownership to affect their supplier relationships with Chrysler.

Germany-based DaimlerChrysler AG announced Monday that it will sell 80.1 percent of Chrysler Group for $7.4 billion to an affiliate of New York-based Cerberus Capital Management LP.

DaimlerChrysler will retain the rest of the company, to be named Chrysler Holding LLC, which will be responsible for pension and healthcare obligations.

The holding company will own all of the future Chrysler Corporation LLC, which produces and sells Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles, and the future Chrysler Financial Services LLC, which provides financial services for these vehicles in the NAFTA region.

DaimlerChrysler, which will hold a shareholders’ meeting to decide whether its name should be changed to Daimler AG, expects the transaction to close in the third quarter.

Kemper Morrow, manager of New York-headquartered Standard Motor Products Inc.’s Reynosa wire and cable plant, said the sale won’t affect the local operation’s supplying relationship with Chrysler.

“None whatsoever,” he said.

Delphi Corp., which operates maquiladoras in Matamoros and Reynosa, supplies components and sys-tems to DaimlerChrysler, said Lindsey Williams, corporate affairs manager at Delphi’s headquarters in Troy, Mich.

But less than 10 percent of overall business at Delphi’s facilities in the two Mexican border cities comes from supplying the automaker, he said.

“We don’t anticipate any immediate impact as a result of the most recent development with Daimler-Chrysler and Cerberus,” he said. “It still has some time before we know what it means. We hope to main-tain and grow our relationship with them.”

Barry F. Goodrich, managing director for Delphi’s operations in Matamoros and Reynosa, said the sale won’t affect the local operation’s supplying relationship with Chrysler.

The president of the Matamoros Association of Maquiladoras wasn’t available for comment Monday.

Randy Main, president of the Reynosa Association of Maquiladoras, said he doesn’t expect short-term changes in supplier business since the Chrysler-ownership transition will take some time to complete.

The transaction could end up benefiting suppliers if plans for new car designs hold up, he said.

“In the long term, if (Cerberus) does what it says, it should be good for the suppliers,” Main said.

Current contract terms for suppliers aren’t changing as a result of the transaction, a Cerberus repre-sentative said.

At this point, according to the Cerberus representative, there are no anticipated changes as a result of the transaction on facilities or number of employees other than what Chrysler has previously announced as part of its plan to get the unprofitable company in the black.

Chrysler will continue working with suppliers and others to turn the company around, said Chrysler Group spokeswomancq Shawn Morgancq, based at the company’s headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.

But it’s premature to know exactly what’s in the cards for suppliers with the new company, she said.

“We don’t know until the sale goes through,” Morgan said. “At this time, there’s no changes in the way we’re operating.”