Chrysler buyout banks looking to offload $12 billion debt - report

LONDON, Apr. 22, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- The banks involved in the $20 billion financing for the buyout of Chrysler at the height of the private equity boom are renewing a push to offload the debt by slashing prices, the Financial Times reported.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) have already sold chunks of the roughly $12 billion in secured loans granted to the Cerberus-backed private equity buyout, which acquired Chrysler from its former parent Daimler - among the biggest of the jumbo deals struck in the run-up to the credit crunch.

Goldman has sold $500 million of the loans at 63 cents to the dollar and Citi is now moving to sell Chrysler debt as part of a $12 billion portfolio of leveraged loans. Citi was offered 63-65 cents for the Chrysler debt, the newspaper reporting, quoting people involved.