Robert Kidder Is Named Chairman of Chrysler

Robert Kidder, a private-equity investor and former consultant who once worked for Ford , will become the chairman of Chrysler once the automaker emerges from bankruptcy and completes a merger with Italy's Fiat, the company said Wednesday.

AP Robert Kidder

Kidder, who was also the chief executive of battery maker Duracell and Borden Chemical, also serves as the lead director of Morgan Stanley and a board member at Schering Plough . He will succeed Chrysler's Bob Nardelli, who is stepping down as the bankrupt automaker's chairman and chief executive.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne is expected to assume management control of Chrysler when key assets from its operations are sold out of bankruptcy protection to a new operating company in the coming weeks under a deal financed and brokered by the Obama administration.

Kidder's appointment was the first announced for the nine-member board that will oversee the new company. The U.S. Treasury will appoint four of those directors while Fiat will appoint three board members.

"I am confident that Chrysler will emerge from Chapter 11 a lean and powerful competitor, combining its own rich history of innovation with Fiat's technology and expertise to invigorate the American car market and to challenge other car companies around the globe," Kidder said in a statement.

The news came after a judge declined to postpone Chrysler's bankruptcy to allow a district court to hear arguments about whether the U.S. government exceeded its authority in the reorganization of the automaker earlier in the day.

An attorney for three state retirement funds from Indiana requested the bankruptcy hearings be postponed until a district court could determine if the U.S. government acted legally in the Chrysler bankruptcy.

The U.S. government provided the automaker emergency loans prior to its bankruptcy, has committed to providing nearly $5 billion to finance the bankruptcy and is participating in a group that plans to buy most of the assets of the company.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report

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