Auto Industry Bankruptcy Watch
General Motors is on the fast track to bankruptcy:
DETROIT/BERLIN (Reuters) – General Motors Corp appeared to clear a major hurdle on its way to filing the kind of bankruptcy it favors on Thursday by persuading major bondholders to accept a sweetened deal — even as talks over the carmaker’s Opel unit stalled.
But the troubles of the U.S. car industry took a potentially ominous new turn when two suppliers, including former Ford Motor Co unit Visteon Corp, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — a move that some analysts worried could affect Ford’s liquidity. …
GM said it had reached a deal with some major bondholders that would give them a bigger stake in a reorganized automaker and could pave the way for a fast-track bankruptcy backed by the U.S. Treasury. …
Under the proposed deal, bondholders representing $27 billion in debt would be offered 10 percent of a reorganized GM — the same stake they had been offered previously.
But as an incentive, bondholders would also receive warrants to acquire another 15 percent of the equity in the new company, provided they support a quick Treasury-backed sale process similar to one now being used for rival Chrysler.
Frank says: