GM / GMAC Vol.39 - Le idi di marzo

[frankiemachine]

19001esimo post sull'argomento (38 tomi x 500 post)

veniamo dal tomo n.38

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GM's Opel directors debate future

Robert Snell / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp. said today it needs 3.3 billion euros, or $4.2 billion, in government aid to keep its German carmaker Adam Opel afloat.
The request is included in a viability plan approved today by GM's European division and Opel's Supervisory Board that also details how the brand would become profitable by 2011.
"The discussion with governments is being driven by the exceptionally weak economic situation that has seriously eroded consumer demand for vehicles and shut-out the availability of credit for financing operations," said GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster. "We're moving to restructure our business with as minimal an impact on jobs as possible, but the reality is that we're in an exceptional economic situation and the issue of plant closings must be considered."
Klaus Franz, chairman of the General Works Council and of the European GM Employee Forum, last week advocated a spinoff of Opel and the Saab brand to save jobs and plants.
"There is no future with GM," he said.
The automaker has said it is seeking $1.2 billion in labor cost savings, on top of existing measures, including a wage freeze.
As part of its global restructuring plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department last week, GM said 26,000 of the 47,000 jobs it plans to eliminate are in its foreign operations, and executives singled out Europe as requiring urgent action.
In spite of deep restructurings and an attractive lineup of cars, including the new Opel Insignia sedan, the German carmaker struggles to make money.
In its fourth quarter financial report released Thursday, GM said its European division lost $956 million compared to a $215 million loss a year earlier, a drop attributed to lower industry volumes, unfavorable model mix and foreign exchange, among other issues. Revenue, meanwhile, fell from $10.7 billion to $6.4 billion.
Forster said today GM Europe remains open to pursuing partnerships, equity positions or other alignments "that will strengthen the relative position of Opel/GM.
Opel is the core of GM's European operations and one of the Detroit automaker's first foreign acquisitions, purchased nearly 80 years ago. Opel includes the Vauxhall brand, the name under which Opel vehicles are sold in Britain.
Managers envision Opel and its British sister unit Vauxhall becoming a "legally demarcated, at least partly independent business unit," GM's Forster said after a meeting of Adam Opel GmbH's supervisory board. Forster heads the board, the equivalent of a U.S. board of directors.
The German government had demanded that the company present it with a plan for the future before it would consider any aid to help preserve the roughly 25,000 jobs at Opel's various German facilities. Another stipulation was that no aid should flow to the U.S. parent in Detroit.
While Forster said the government is aware of the proposal, it is to be formally presented on Monday.
Opel Chief Executive Hans Demant said in televised remarks that the plan contains "the goal of creating an independent European Opel organization that is open for investment from third parties" and a "walling-off concept."
Forster made clear that that it is still important for the unit to remain part of the General Motors network, to retain access to technology, but explained that instead of wholly belonging to GM, the goal would be to have third parties hold a more than 25 percent stake. He said specifics had not been determined.
He said the company will try to avoid any plant closures or layoffs as it tries to reduce capacity.
Opel will need the financing or guarantees from European authorities over the next two years, Forster said. The aim would be to pay the money back in 2014 or 2015.

[frmaoro]

GM Bondholders Seek Meeting With Obama Auto Team

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Major holders of General Motors Corp.'s unsecured debt have requested a meeting with President Barack Obama's auto-industry task force to discuss the possibility of federal guarantees to back billions of dollars in new debt the auto maker would issue as part of its viability plan, according ...

[Julius67]

Originalmente inviato da frankiemachine

19001esimo post sull'argomento (38 tomi x 500 post)

veniamo dal tomo n.38

Bello come titolo.

Forza GM che siamo vicini alla fine del tunnel

[paullee]

Originalmente inviato da julius67

bello come titolo.

Forza gm che siamo vicini alla fine del tunnel

parlando delle "idi di marzo":

g.m. :

[saverio1973]

Originalmente inviato da frmaoro

GM Bondholders Seek Meeting With Obama Auto Team

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Major holders of General Motors Corp.'s unsecured debt have requested a meeting with President Barack Obama's auto-industry task force to discuss the possibility of federal guarantees to back billions of dollars in new debt the auto maker would issue as part of its viability plan, according ...

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[frankiemachine]

GM may shed Opel stake

Company to submit plan to German government to sell part of automaker in return for European aid.

Robert Snell / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp. might sell up to a 50-percent stake in its German Adam Opel unit in exchange for receiving $4.2 billion in European aid.
Although GM would no longer own all of Opel, which has been part of GM for 80 years, the cash-strapped automaker could save money by still sharing vehicle platforms with Opel and its new partner, according to one analyst.
The disclosure was included in a viability plan approved Friday by GM's European division and Opel's supervisory board that also details how the brand would become profitable by 2011. The plan will be formally presented to the German government Monday.
Opel Chief Executive Hans Demant said the goal is to create an independent organization that would attract third-party investment. GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said GM would retain control of the company.
GM's attempts to secure Opel aid is one facet of its global restructuring plan. GM is operating thanks to $13.4 billion in federal loans, and has asked for up to $16.6 billion more; it is seeking an additional $6 billion from foreign governments.
The development came one day after GM said its European division lost $956 million in the fourth-quarter compared with a $215 million loss a year earlier. Last week, GM's Saab brand filed for reorganization in the Swedish equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy after Sweden declined to provide financial aid.
In spite of deep restructurings and an attractive lineup of cars, including the new Insignia, Opel has struggled to make money for GM, which posted a $9.6 billion fourth-quarter loss Thursday amid the worst sales slump since the early 1980s.
As part of its global restructuring plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department last week, GM said 26,000 of the 47,000 jobs it plans to eliminate are in its foreign operations, and executives singled out Europe as requiring urgent action.
"The discussion with governments is being driven by the exceptionally weak economic situation that has seriously eroded consumer demand for vehicles and shut-out the availability of credit for financing operations," Forster said Friday. "We're moving to restructure our business with as minimal an impact on jobs as possible, but the reality is that we're in an exceptional economic situation and the issue of plant closings must be considered."
Forster said GM Europe remains open to pursuing partnerships, equity positions or other alignments. GM said it would contribute $3.8 billion toward the restructuring plan and seek $1.2 billion in labor cost savings.
If GM sold a 50 percent stake in Opel, the automaker could still achieve economies of scale. The real question is whether a new partner gets access to GM's high-volume vehicle platforms or brings in their own, minimizing GM's influence, said analyst Jim Hall with 2953 Analytics in Birmingham.
"The question is whether the dominant platforms are General Motors' or the partner company's," Hall said. "How well it works out for GM depends on who the partner is and the nature of the relationship."
He said the offer to sell up to a 50 percent stake might be a good faith gesture by GM to show it is serious about restructuring Opel.
Opel is the core of GM's European operations and includes the Vauxhall brand, the name under which Opel vehicles are sold in Britain.
Managers envision Opel and Vauxhall becoming a "legally demarcated, at least partly independent business unit," GM's Forster said after a meeting of Adam Opel GmbH's supervisory board, which Forster heads.
The German government had demanded that the company present it with a plan before it would consider any aid. Another stipulation was that no aid should flow to the U.S. parent in Detroit.
(Detroit News)

[frankiemachine]

GM bleeds; aid talks heat up

GM loses $31B in 2008, burns $5.2B in 4th quarter

Robert Snell / The Detroit News

Pressure is mounting on General Motors Corp. to secure additional federal aid and money-saving concessions from the United Auto Workers and bondholders in light of the automaker's $30.9 billion loss last year.
GM revealed its fourth straight annual loss -- the second-worst in the company's 100-year history -- on Thursday, hours before Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner met with President Barack Obama's auto team, which is overseeing the automaker's restructuring and repayment of $13.4 billion in federal loans. GM said last week it needs up to $16.6 billion more to survive the weakest sales market since the early 1980s, including $2 billion next month to avoid bankruptcy.
The Obama auto team will meet with Ford Motor Co. executives today(i.e. ieri), capping an intensive week of meetings with auto industry officials.
The Ford meeting is not an indication the company will request government aid; Ford reiterated Thursday that it does not plan to ask for federal loans.
Treasury Department officials requested meetings with all three Detroit automakers and other stakeholders, including the UAW, suppliers, and Wall Street analysts, to gather detailed information about the state of the companies and the industry.
The Obama auto team met with Chrysler LLC on Wednesday and with the UAW on Thursday ahead of GM; UAW President Ron Gettelfinger did not participate. It is not clear who will represent Ford, but CEO Alan Mulally will not attend. GM and Chrysler sent their CEOs to Washington, but were not required to do so.
GM's financial results -- fueled by deteriorating economic and market conditions and lingering questions about its viability -- were anticlimactic given the scope of a broad cost-cutting plan GM submitted to Treasury last week under its loan terms and its additional aid request. But the numbers released Thursday illustrated the dramatic financial fall of a company that was once the world's largest automaker.
"It's fair to say it's been a tough year for General Motors," Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said in a conference call.
GM signaled another concern Thursday. The automaker anticipates it will receive a "going concern" opinion from its auditors when its annual report is filed next month. The automaker and its auditors must determine whether there is substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a "going concern," or viable business. That decision has been delayed pending resolution of GM's latest loan requests.
The public, suppliers and people tied to the auto industry should not overreact, though, because the federal loans, Obama's economic-stimulus package and the automakers' restructuring plans will help salvage the industry, said Kimberly Rodriguez of the restructuring firm Grant Thornton LLP.
Ford said Thursday that its auditors will affirm its viability.
GM's results showed it burned $5.2 billion in cash in the fourth quarter despite getting the bulk of its $13.4 billion federal loan package, which alone won't be enough to keep it from filing for bankruptcy next month.
GM's loss, more than double Ford's losses last year, could spur the president's autos team to quickly decide on GM's request for more loans, said turnaround expert Van Conway of Conway MacKenzie in Birmingham.
"It probably increases the need to move more quickly," he said.
But the answer could just as easily be no, he said, especially when the auto team considers a prolonged industry sales slump that could cripple GM despite drastic cuts being implemented as part of GM's restructuring plan.
"Where I'm a little nervous is that (GM) is depending on an uptick in car volumes to make these plans work," said Brad Coulter, director of O'Keefe & Associates, a Bloomfield Hills-based financial consulting firm and turnaround adviser. "What they're in right now is a tenuous position."
GM is expecting industrywide U.S. sales will be about 10.5 million this year, a worst-case scenario that helps explain why the automaker needs more federal loans, Young said.
The annualized sales rate was 9.6 million in January and a new report indicates the U.S. sales slump is getting worse. According to J.D. Power and Associates, the annualized sales rate for light-vehicle sales in February will be 9.1 million, which would be a 39 percent drop from a year ago. J.D. Power also cut its yearly forecast to 10.4 million vehicles.
GM reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $9.6 billion, or $15.71 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.5 billion, or $2.70 a share for the same period a year earlier.
The sales slump that first hit in North America spread across GM's global divisions in the final three months of 2008.
GM's global operations lost $10.4 billion last year compared to a gain of $553 million in 2007.
GM posted losses in each of its four global regions during the fourth quarter, led by a $2.1 billion loss in North America.
The Detroit automaker sold 8.35 million vehicles worldwide last year, down 11 percent. In the fourth quarter, GM produced 732,000 fewer vehicles.
"It shows you how dramatically the world economy has deteriorated in the last quarter of 2008," Young said. "We really noticed in the fourth quarter the credit crisis really spreading around the world and having an impact on industry volumes."
The unprecedented production cuts help explain why GM burned through $19.2 billion in cash last year.
GM ended the year with $14 billion in cash, securities and readily available assets -- about $3 billion more than the minimum amount it needs to pay bills.
Young expects the cash-burn rate will slow to $14 billion this year when vehicle production resumes after the first quarter and as GM realizes savings.
GM is eliminating 47,000 jobs this year, shuttering 14 plants by 2012 and selling, shrinking or killing its Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac and Saab brands. Saab filed for reorganization last Friday in the Swedish equivalent of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
GM also is forcing most of its U.S. salaried workers to accept temporary pay cuts.
Targets set in the loan agreement call for the UAW to accept half of the funding for a retiree health care fund in cash and half in company stock. GM also is negotiating with bondholders to cut the company's $27 billion in unsecured debt by two-thirds.

[frankiemachine]

GM Bondholders Said to Ask For Meeting With Obama’s Auto Team

By Caroline Salas

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. bondholders have asked for a meeting with President Barack Obama’s auto task force to discuss their views on how the automaker should restructure to avoid a bankruptcy, according to a person with direct knowledge of the request.

GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, is in talks with bondholders to pare $27.5 billion in debt to $9.2 billion in exchange for equity. The 10-member auto task force, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, has the power to force a bankruptcy filing or make other changes to the automakers’ viability plans.

Bondholders have asked for the meeting to discuss Detroit- based GM’s business plan and the terms of the debt exchange, said the person, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are private. Bondholders are skeptical that the business plan is aggressive enough to ensure their equity will be valuable, the person said.

[General Max]

I conti della serva ...

Li avevamo fatti anche noi.

Resto dell'idea che non conviene a nessuno di "loro" far cascare tutta la baracca.

DETROIT, Feb 27 (Reuters)

... (omissis) ...

The terms of GM's bailout approved by the Bush administration require the company to cut its bond debt by roughly $18 billion by swapping debt for equity. That amounts to a payout of about 33 cents on the dollar.

... (omissis) ...

"We continue to believe that bondholders may be looking to the federal government to guarantee new, smaller face value bonds," Barclays Capital analyst Brian Johnson said in a note.

Johnson said the government could make the deal more appealing for bondholders by guaranteeing new GM bonds at a payout of 40 cents on the dollar. But by doing so, the amount of GM debt guaranteed by taxpayers could rise to $42 billion, including direct loans, he said.

Any meeting between the task force and bond representatives would cover a range of issues around GM's restructuring, the person said.

GM debt holders are represented by a 10-member committee, including Franklin Templeton Investments, Fidelity Investment and Loomis Sayles & Co.

A proposito di saggezza antica ...

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Il servo aiuta il servo, il padrone aiuta il padrone.