General Motors looks closer to bankruptcy on May 27 after it said a debt-for-equity swap offer to bondholders had fallen through.
When exchange offers expired late on May 26 "the principal amount of notes tendered was substantially less than the amount required by GM," the automaker said.
GM had sought to exchange $27.2 billion of its unsecured public notes to satisfy debt reduction requirements under its loan agreements with the U.S. Treasury and as called for in the company's own "viability" plan.
"Since these conditions, as well as certain other conditions, have not been satisfied, the exchange offers will not be consummated," GM said.
GM was widely expected to file for bankruptcy protection ahead of a June 1 deadline imposed by the administration of President Barack Obama, which has providing the automaker with billions of dollars in emergency loans.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009