General Motors Corp (GM) said on Friday that it has borrowed an additional US$4 billion from the US Treasury Department, meaning the automaker has now accepted US$19.4 billion in loans from the US government.
GM started taking government money in December and said it intended to borrow US$2.6 billion more by June 1 and an additional US$9 billion after that. But in a regulatory filing on Friday, GM said it needed US$1.4 billion sooner than originally forecast.
The company didn’t publicly disclose how it would use the money but said it provided the information to Treasury officials and they considered the loan acceptable.
“We appreciate [US] President [Barack] Obama’s and his administration’s ongoing support of GM and the domestic US auto industry as we undertake the difficult but necessary actions to reinvent our company,” the company said.
GM said it expects to need US$7.6 billion in loans after June 1.
GM has until then to complete restructuring plans that satisfy the government’s auto task force, or else it will be forced to file for bankruptcy protection. The automaker has been scrambling to cut labor costs, reduce its debt, shed dealerships and brands and close excess factories.
The company this week reached cost-cutting deals with Canadian and US unions that still have to be ratified by members, but GM’s unsecured bondholders have resisted an offer to take a 10 percent stake in the company to wipe out US$27 billion in debt. They say that’s too small a stake for the amount they are owed.
In addition to the US$19.4 billion that GM has directly borrowed from the government, its financial arm GMAC Financial Services has received US$12.5 billion in aid and GM received a US$1 billion loan to buy more equity in GMAC.
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