Friday July 10, 01:18 PM
Troubled US auto giant GM exits bankruptcy
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Representatives for US government and General Motors (NYSE: GM - news) signed documents early Friday transferring the automaker's good assets to a new government-supported car company, the New York Times (NYSE: NYT - news) reported in its online edition.
The company's speedy exit from bankruptcy protection came less than a day after a US court cleared the sale despite some 850 objections from creditors and a last-minute appeal by the family of a car accident victim.
GM's top assets include the well-known brands Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. They will now belong to a government entity that will be re-named the General Motors Company, the Times (1832.HK - news) reported.
The US government will own about 61 percent of the new auto company, while a United Auto Workers union health care trust, bondholders and the Canadian government will own the rest, according to the Times.
The move had been anticipated, and GM CEO Fritz Henderson is scheduled to speak to reporters at 1300 GMT at the automaker's Detroit (DETROIT.SN - news) headquarters.
Once the world's largest corporation, General Motors sold more vehicles than any other automaker from 1931 through 2007, after which it lost the crown to Japan's Toyota.
The "new GM" will be a leaner, smaller company after having shed tens of thousands of workers, eliminated or sold storied brands, shuttered scores of factories and rewritten its labor contracts to slash costs.
Several brand owned by the old GM, including Saturn, Hummer, Opel and Pontiac, have been sold or are being sold.
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