GM bankruptcy deal takes shape
May 29, 2009
Washington - General Motors on Thursday put the final pieces of a pre-packaged bankruptcy in place that would give the US government up to 72.5 percent of the new firm and sweetens the offer to bondholders.
GM said in a regulatory filing that the US Treasury agreed to the plan to create a new company that buys the assets of the ailing automaker.
Significantly, a group of bondholders who had rejected an earlier proposal agreed to the new plan, GM said.
The US government could provide "in excess of $50-billion" to this reorganization that would be converted mainly to stock, according to GM's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A senior US administration official said this would include new cash of some $39 billion from the US and Canadian governments, which would be on top of the $20 billion already injected into GM by Washington.
The official said a GM bankruptcy might take somewhat longer than for Chrysler, which is seeking to emerge soon after filing for bankruptcy protection April 30.
"A 60- to 90-day timeframe is a better" estimate, the official said.
GM's survival plan had been in doubt earlier this week when holders of some $27 billion in GM bonds rejected a plan to swap that debt for 10% of the new company.
But a new proposal by the US Treasury "provides incentives for GM's unsecured bondholders," giving them a potentially larger stake in the new firm.
The bondholders would get 10% of the common equity of "New GM" and warrants that give them the right to purchase another 15% of the reorganized firm, according to the filing.
The ad hoc Committee of GM bondholders said in a statement it supports the revised offer: "When contrasted with the alternative, uncertain and costly bankruptcy court litigation ... it represents the best alternative for bondholders in the current difficult and dire situation."
The bondholders, who a month ago had proposed a deal that would give them 58% of the new GM, said that the 10% stake plus the opportunity to buy 15% "gives the bondholders the opportunity to recover a greater portion of their original investment than was previously offered."
The committee represents around 20% of GM bondholders but as the most organized element is likely to carry considerable weight.
"From GM's perspective this obviously helps take one of the more organized groups of dissenters out of the picture," said Stephen Lubben, a law professor and bankruptcy specialist at Seton Hall University.
But another group representing many small bondholders rejected the new proposal and said it would challenge the case in court.
Main Street Bondholders said the plan remained unfair to investors, who would get just 13 cents on the dollar compared with 66 cents for claims from GM's main union, the United Auto Workers.
"The US government appears to overtly favor the UAW members over America's seniors and retirees," a spokesman said.
The US official said the Treasury did not set a threshold as with an earlier proposal that required 90% of bondholders to agree. The investors will have until 2100 GMT Saturday to decide on the plan.
Creation of the new firm would wipe out a large part of the auto giant's debt, leaving GM owing some $17 billion excluding the warrants and special preferred shares that require dividend payments.
The plan provides for a swap of a portion of the Treasury's loans for the 72.5% stake, leaving a debt to the government of $8.0 billion.
The filing said that the US Treasury stake could be reduced by a stake given to the governments of Canada and Ontario province if they provide funding for the reorganization.
Some 17.5% of the new firm would go to the trust fund that pays retiree benefits knows as a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA.
The remaining 10% in the new firm would be held by "Old GM," which would be controlled by the bondholders.
GM was widely expected to file for bankruptcy protection ahead of a June 1 deadline imposed by the administration of President Barack Obama, which has provided the automaker with billions of dollars in emergency loans.
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