Adviser: ‘low likelihood’ Chrysler can pay back

A top financial adviser overseeing Chrysler’s restructuring says there’s a “low likelihood” the automaker will be able pay back its billions of dollars in government loans.
   
But Robert Manzo of Capstone Advisory Group has testified in bankruptcy court that he doesn’t view the government financing as “free money.“
   
The government has agreed to provide $8 billion in financing on top of the $4 billion Chrysler has already received as part of a plan for Chrysler to file for Chapter 11 and partner with Italian automaker Fiat.
   
Earlier in today’s hearing in New York, Judge Arthur Gonzalez postponed a decision on whether Chrysler can start the process of selling its most valuable assets to a new entity partnered with Fiat.
   
Gonzalez delayed a decision until tomorrow after attorneys for a dissident group of Chrysler’s lenders objected to taking up the issue because the group needed more time to review the proposed deal.