Chrysler considers IPO

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., June 4 (UPI) -- Chrysler LLC Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said the firm would likely issue shares in a public sale in 2012.

Up for grabs is 45.7 percent of the company currently owned by the United Auto Workers' voluntary employee beneficiary association, a trust fund for retirees, The New York Times reported Saturday.

While other shares could be put up for sale, the initial plan is to allow VEBA, as the trust is called, to exit from its holdings.

Fiat, which took over management of Chrysler when it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, could buy the shares from VEBA directly, but "I still look at the initial public offering as the easiest way to monetize it," Marchionne said.