DaimlerChrysler under growing pressure to sell Chrysler

A number of big institutional investors are turning up the pressure on German-US auto giant DaimlerChrysler to sell its troubled US unit Chrysler, the business daily Handelsblatt reported on Monday.

Among the investors, the powerful Union Investment fund and SEB, are to demand from DaimlerChrysler chief Dieter Zetsche at the car maker's annual general meeting this week a clear commitment to sell the loss-making unit.

"Under the current conditions, we believe it would make sense to spin-off Chrysler, since the market environment in the US will prove to be very difficult in the future," Union Investment fund manager Ingo Speich told the newspaper.

Handelsblatt also quoted SEB fund manager Juergen Meyer, as saying that a sell-off was the "preferred scenario".

Officially, DaimlerChrysler has said it is examining "all strategic options" for Chrysler, but nothing has been officially decided yet.