Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International just bid 4.7 billion, and is possibly in cahoots with an unnamed private equity firm, which may be Blackstone Group or Cerebus Capital Management. Both of those private equity companies are also suspected of making individual runs at Chrysler. Is GM out of the picture?

Soon after Chrysler got put on the block, GM was rumored to be interested in partnering up with Chrysler but there weren't many details. Now, the news is out that GM had bid for Chrysler in January, in which cash-poor GM offered to swap some stocks and wanted Chrysler to pay GM cash for some of the health-care liabilities it would be inheriting from a merger. GM is hardly out of the picture yet, but some analysts are predicting that the General has been sent to the back of the line.

While a GM-Chrysler deal raises a lot of questions about what to do with redundant brands and whether or not GM should even be getting itself distracted by a merger during difficult financial times, a purchase made by a private equity firm will likely lead to another sell off some years down the road. As for Magna being the potential buyer, hmmmmmm, interesting.