Cerberus Capital Management

Toronto-Dominion Bank is near an agreement to buy Chrysler Financial, the lender once owned by the third-largest U.S. automaker, from Cerberus Capital Management, said three people with knowledge of the matter. Toronto-Dominion may announce a deal as soon as Tuesday morning, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. Toronto-Dominion and Cerberus had been discussing a price of about $6 billion to $7 billion, other people with knowledge of the situation said earlier this month.

Supermarket company Supervalu is eliminating 1,100 positions nationwide, or about 3% of its workforce, as it whittles down its store network. The move, announced Tuesday, comes just days after Supervalu finalized the $100-million sale of five of its grocery chains -- Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market -- to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management. Supervalu's remaining businesses include 1,331 Save-A-Lot discount groceries, 1,950 stores serviced by its wholesale distribution business and 191 regional groceries in the Cub, Farm Fresh, Shoppers, Shop 'n Save and Hornbacher's chains.

Supermarket company Supervalu is eliminating 1,100 positions nationwide, or about 3% of its workforce, as it whittles down its store network. The move, announced Tuesday, comes just days after Supervalu finalized the $100-million sale of five of its grocery chains -- Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market -- to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management. Supervalu's remaining businesses include 1,331 Save-A-Lot discount groceries, 1,950 stores serviced by its wholesale distribution business and 191 regional groceries in the Cub, Farm Fresh, Shoppers, Shop 'n Save and Hornbacher's chains.

Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management is distancing itself from Friday's shooting at a Connecticut elementary school by selling the company that makes one of the weapons purportedly used in the attack. Cerberus said in a statement Tuesday that it will abandon its investment in Freedom Group, which produces the Bushmaster line of firearms. Adam Lanza is believed to have used a .223-caliber Bushmaster AR-15 rifle -- the equivalent of the military's M-16 weapon -- in his assault on Sandy Hook Elementary School.

* Dell Inc. said it would sell Sony televisions in a bid to lift consumer sales. * New York-based CBS Corp. agreed to sell seven TV stations to Cerberus Capital Management, also in New York, for $185 million, shedding outlets in smaller markets.

Cerberus Capital Management agreed to pay Greenwich, Conn.-based United Rentals Inc. a $100-million breakup fee for dropping its $4-billion purchase of the equipment-rental company. Cerberus agreed to pay the fee after a Delaware court ruled the private equity firm was allowed to scrap the takeover, which it abandoned last month.

Wolfgang Bernhard, the former chief operating officer of DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler unit, will become chairman of Chrysler's auto operations after Cerberus Capital Management takes over, according to a person familiar with the situation. Bernhard, 46, is expected to return to Chrysler as the U.S. automaker works to boost sales outside North America while speeding the rollout of new models. He left Chrysler in 2004.

Federal antitrust regulators have cleared Cerberus Capital Management's $7.4-billion purchase of Chrysler. Peter Duda, a Cerberus spokesman, said the Federal Trade Commission made its decision before the end of a standard 30-day review. Early termination of an FTC review typically signifies there will be no conditions placed on the deal. The FTC declined to comment.

General Motors Corp. has been in preliminary talks about acquiring Chrysler, according to published reports. Detroit-based GM and private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, which owns Chrysler, began the discussions more than a month ago, the New York Times reported. According to the Wall Street Journal, the talks were recently suspended because of financial market turmoil but they could resume once markets stabilize.

Chrysler pension plans may be underfunded by more than $10 billion, the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has estimated. If the pensions are terminated, the agency's claim for the shortfall in the automaker's bankruptcy case "would exceed $9 billion," Chrysler lawyers said in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. Chrysler is seeking approval of a settlement among the company, the pension agency, Cerberus Capital Management and Daimler to partly fund the plans and avoid a termination.

Retailers are pulling back on sales of assault weapons and investors are abandoning gun makers' stocks as the nation's grief focuses on the funerals of the 20 children and six adults killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School rampage in Newtown, Conn. Calling the deadly assault "tragic and devastating," private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management said Tuesday that it will sell its 95% stake in Freedom Group Inc., which makes the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle that police said was used in the attack.

Chrysler Group reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and logged its best financial performance in more than a decade. Chrysler said it posted net income of $473 million for the first quarter of 2012, up more than 300% from $116 million a year earlier. The company said the gains were driven primarily by a 40% increase in U.S. retail sales. It was the company's highest quarterly profit since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009. "Another positive quarter - built on sales gains that have surpassed the industry average - is affirmation that the Chrysler team is maintaining its focus," said Sergio Marchionne, who is chief executive of Chrysler and Italian automaker Fiat.

Chrysler Group reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and logged its best financial performance in more than a decade, a turbulent period of changing owners with varied business strategies for the Detroit automaker. Chrysler said it posted net income of $473 million for the first quarter of 2012, up more than 300% from $116 million a year ago. The company said the gains were  driven primarily by a 40%  increase in U.S. retail sales. It was the company's highest quarterly profit since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.

  Show of hands - who likes the Yellow Pages? OK, that's two: me, and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that's buying the Yellow Pages from AT&T. The price tag is nearly a billion in cash and a note, and nearly half equity interest in a new outfit named YP Holdings. In other words, it's maybe half of the Dodgers' sale price. [That's my new unit of business money measurement - Dodger dollars.] Still, the Yellow Pages took a nearly $3 billion write-down last year.

Chrysler Groupearned its first annual profit as an independent company since 1997, a sign that the Detroit automaker is recovering from its bankruptcy reorganization and the conflicting strategies of its recent owners. Chrysler said it earned $183 million last year, compared with a loss of $652 million in the prior year. Sales rose 31% to $55 billion. "The house is in good order. We are proud of the work we've done," said Sergio Marchionne, who is chief executive of Chrysler and Fiat, the Italian automaker that owns a controlling interest in the company.

Cerberus Capital Management and Chatham Lodging Trust ended their $1.12-billion agreement to buy 64 hotels owned by the bankrupt Innkeepers USA Trust. In a joint statement Monday, Cerberus and Chatham said a "material adverse" change had taken place since the May 16 agreement, entitling them to withdraw. Neither specified whether the change related to the marketplace or to Innkeepers itself. Material adverse clauses let buyers pull out of deals in cases of changes to the market or the purchased company.

Remington Arms Co. will acquire Marlin Firearms Co. in a deal that brings together two gun companies founded in the 19th century. Remington, acquired by Cerberus Capital Management in April, will add Marlin's long guns, including shoulder arm designs and lever-action rifles. Terms of the deal for the privately held Marlin Firearms were not disclosed. Marlin, based in North Haven, Conn., was founded in 1870 by John M. Marlin, who had worked at the Colt weapons plant during the Civil War.

Before Chrysler's new 200, the company's mid-size car was on its deathbed. Last known as the Sebring, the third generation of this vehicle was roundly considered a mess. It was produced without compunction by Chrysler when the company was owned by DaimlerChrysler and later, private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The Sebring was ugly, stark, poor-performing and noisy. The only excuse for having one in your driveway was you had robbed a Hertz rental agency or had a good day as a contestant on "The Price Is Right.

Toronto-Dominion Bank is near an agreement to buy Chrysler Financial, the lender once owned by the third-largest U.S. automaker, from Cerberus Capital Management, said three people with knowledge of the matter. Toronto-Dominion may announce a deal as soon as Tuesday morning, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. Toronto-Dominion and Cerberus had been discussing a price of about $6 billion to $7 billion, other people with knowledge of the situation said earlier this month.