Chrysler's focus is to raise new financing: CEO

Chrysler Group is focused on raising new financing to pay back almost USD 7 billion it owes to the US and Canadian governments before an initial public offering of shares, Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said on Wednesday.

"Our priority is to put in place a structure where Chrysler would become answerable to the capital markets only," Marchionne said at a meeting with financial analysts organized by Deutsche Bank. "The most likely of the options under consideration is a financing package that would facilitate payment of all government debt prior to an IPO." Chrysler, which was put under the management control of Fiat in a 2009 bankruptcy brokered by the Obama administration, owed USD 5.7 billion to the US Treasury and USD 1.2 billion to Canada as of the end of September. Marchionne said the cost of financing that debt had kept the No 3 automaker from posting a profit for 2010 on sales of about 1.6 million vehicles.