AUTOS

Kerkorian Doesn’t Want Seat on Chrysler’s Board: Los Angeles financier Kirk Kerkorian, Chrysler Corp.’s largest shareholder, backed off from his request for a seat on the auto maker’s board, saying he is enthusiastic about the company’s future. The announcement followed a meeting in Los Angeles among Kerkorian, Chrysler Chairman Lee A. Iacocca and board member Malcolm Stamper. It appeared to quiet worries voiced last week by Kerkorian about the company’s prospects after Iacocca retires at the end of the year. Iacocca will retain his position as chairman of the board’s executive committee, and company plans call for his reelection to that position for an additional one-year term starting in May, 1993. The committee supervises fiscal policy for the company. Kerkorian owns 9.8% of Chrysler’s common stock. Separately, a small number of banks for a 152-member worldwide consortium that lend to Chrysler are refusing to renew their loans, the New York Times reported. That threatens a new $6.8-billion loan package that is crucial to the auto maker’s revitalization, and spurred the firm to ask Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to intervene with German central bankers on Chrysler’s behalf, the Times said. A specific German bank is refusing to participate in the consortium, the Times said.