On Dec. 22, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its corporate credit rating on Chrysler LLC to 'CC' from 'CCC+'. We also lowered the issue-level ratings on the company's senior secured debt. The outlook is negative. The downgrades follow Chrysler's announcement Friday that, as part of its receipt of $4 billion in emergency loans from the U.S. government, it will seek to obtain concessions from its secured lenders. Although the company did not provide specific details, we interpret this to mean that Chrysler will offer to exchange some or all of its secured debt for equity or new debt at a steep discount to face value. Given Chrysler's weak liquidity, we consider such an offer to be a distressed
