COMPANIES Cerberus has its roots in the sometimes thuggish, hardball world of distressed debt. But on its way out of that world, the alternative investment firm has made what appear to be some seriously misjudged calls. As a result of its investments in Chrysler and GMAC, the financing arm of General Motors, as well as in several banks, it finds itself deep in two of the most troubled sectors of the US economy.
That does not, however, seem to trouble Steve Feinberg, Cerberus’s founder. “We always try to hang in – but not at the expense of being commercial,” Mr Feinberg says. “As far as GMAC and Chrysler are concerned, we will hang in there as long as it takes. There is the feeling of a greater calling.”
