By FLOYD NORRIS
What do you call the man who is trying to sabotage Chrysler’s initial public offering by threatening to harm the company, perhaps fatally, if the offering is completed?
You call him Chrysler’s chief executive.
There has never been a proposed I.P.O. like Chrysler’s.
How is it different?
First, the preliminary prospectus filed by the company this week has only one underwriter listed, JPMorgan Chase. A typical offering by a large company will have at least a few underwriters. Every investment bank wants some of the profits, and the company wants maximum distribution. When General Motors, out of bankruptcy and newly profitable, went public in 2010, 10 underwriters were listed on the first prospectus, including all the big ones. Many more were added before the offering took place.
Here, it is quite likely that the rest of Wall Street stayed away because they feared alienating the very company whose stock was being sold.
Second, the G.M. prospectus, as with every other I.P.O. prospectus I have ever seen, tried to put its best foot forward. Within the bounds of securities laws, the prospectus writers did their best to attract investors. Chrysler’s, within the same bounds, is clearly aimed at alienating investors….