It may be, of course, that Cerberus is taking a calculated bet that it can pass the parcel - that is, that Chrysler can be sold on before the risks are realised. If so, that would be troubling for the private equity industry as a whole. For Chrysler is not an isolated case.

Consider British Airways, which is regularly touted as a private equity target because of its high cash flow in relation to its market value. That rather misses the point that it has pension liabilities of about £8.4bn compared to a market value of £5.8bn. It also has a pension deficit of some £2bn. But again, it is the relative size of the liabilities that matters.