WASHINGTON — With just two days left before a government-imposed restructuring deadline, Chrysler LLC took a step away from the brink of bankruptcy Tuesday when its biggest lenders reached a deal with the Treasury Department to slash the teetering automaker’s debt.
Yet Chrysler’s fate remains far from assured. If the company’s smaller creditors don’t get on board, a bankruptcy filing remains a possibility.
But now that Chrysler has a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers and is closing in on a pact with Italian automaker Fiat Group SpA, Chrysler has cleared nearly all the hurdles ahead of its Thursday deadline. That brings the automaker closer to securing another $6 billion in government aid, keeping it alive and preserving its remaining 54,000 jobs.
Under a deal reached Tuesday with four banks, Chrysler’s secured creditors would accept $2 billion cash to settle the automaker’s $6.9 billion debt, according to the people familiar with the talks. The people spoke anonymously because the agreement had not been formally announced.
