GM Will Repay Government Loans By End of June, Chairman Whitacre Says
General Motors will repay its U.S. government loans by the end of June, the automaker said Tuesday.
"GM is scheduled to fully repay the UST [US Treasury] loans by June 2010 assuming no adverse economic or business conditions," Chairman Edward Whitacre said.
The automaker will make its first payment of $1.2 billion this month on a $6.7 billion debt to the U.S. Treasury, a spokesman confirmed.
GM will also begin to repay a C$1.5 billion loan this month and intends to pay off that loan quickly.
The automaker has already repaid a $900 million euro bridge loan to the Opel trust.
General Motors received $49.5 billion in government aid amid its spectacular collapse.
Much of that aid was converted into stock in the new company, which emerged from bankruptcy protection in July.
The U.S. government obtained a 61% stake, the Canadian government received an 11.7% stake, a United Auto Workers union retiree trust fund received a 17.5% stake and bondholders received a 10% stake.
GM has said it hopes to make an initial public stock offering as soon as is practical, which would allow the U.S. and Canadian governments to draw down their stakes in the company.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
