U.S. autos task force to motor on, monitor stakes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even if General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC emerge swiftly from bankruptcy this summer, the Obama administration's autos task force will stay in business -- shifting to an investment manager role.

Senior administration officials said on Sunday there was plenty to keep the task force staff busy, monitoring the government's stake of about 60 percent of GM, and an eight percent stake in Chrysler.

"Moving through this bankruptcy where the government has a major role, there is a great deal to be done. And the staff of the task force will continue to be very active," the official told reporters on a conference call on the eve of GM's planned bankruptcy filing.

The task force, led by Wall Street investment banker Steven Rattner and labor negotiator Ron Bloom, was created by the Obama administration in February. The panel, which also includes top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, quickly sent GM and Chrysler management back to the drawing boards for deeper restructuring plans, ultimately steering them into bankruptcy.

Chrysler, which went into bankruptcy protection on April 30, is expected to emerge with a new alliance with Fiat SpA "soon", the officials said, while GM's court-administered restructuring is expected to take longer, from 60 to 90 days.

One of the officials likened the task force's role going forward to that of major institutional investors, which typically keep on top of company developments to manage their investment.

"We are shareholders, like Fidelity, like a lot of other people who don't control companies, and in that respect, we expect that the taxpayers will want us to monitor their investment and be sure that we understand what's going on but we're not going to have people based in Detroit or anything like that," the official said.

But the government will be the majority shareholder in GM, and will have significant influence over the makeup of its board. Significant changes to the GM board are expected in the next 60 to 90 days as the bankruptcy process moves forward.

One of the biggest decisions the task force will have is when to sell or begin unwinding the government's stakes in the automakers. According to new principles laid out by the Obama administration to limit the government's influence in companies in which it owns shares, it "will seek to dispose of its ownership stakes as soon as practicable."

The official declined to project when this would be or how much of the $50 billion in aid extended to GM will be recouped. The restructuring plan was aimed at "maximizing taxpayer proceeds" by ensuring that GM could be profitable even if conditions in the industry remain difficult for years to come, the official said.

(Editing by Andrea Ricci)