See highlights of The Deal's coverage of how the auto giant got to bankruptcy, what steps it took to emerge and how the Detroit icon is reorganizing to get back on track.
Jan. 26: Spyker Cars NV on Tuesday struck an outline deal to buy Saab Automobile AB from General Motors Co.Under
the terms of the preliminary deal, Spyker would pay GM $74 million in
cash and $326 million in preferred shares of a new entity created with
the deal, Saab Spyker Automobiles.- Andrew Bulkeley
Dec. 4: General Motors Co.
interim CEO Ed Whitacre Jr. wasted little time putting his stamp on the
company, announcing a management shake-up just days after the company's
chairman accepted the resignation of former chief executive Fritz
Henderson. - Lou Whiteman
Dec. 1: GM's Henderson out; Saab dangles: Fritz Henderson is stepping down as CEO of GM. Chairman Ed
Whitacre will take over on an interim basis for Henderson, a 25-year
company veteran who got the job in March when President Obama's
automotive task force removed CEO Rick Wagoner. - Lou Whiteman
Nov. 24: GM
announced that Swedish high-end sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg Automotive AB backed away from its agreement to purchase domestic peer Saab Automobile AB. - Andrew Bulkeley and Lou Whiteman
Nov. 18: Saab sale is off: Ron Bloom, the head of the White House automotive task force,
reiterated the government's desire to reduce its majority stake in
General Motors Co., telling Reuters the automaker could launch an initial public offering before the end of 2010. - Lou Whiteman
Nov. 16: Detroit-based GM said it lost $261 million
before special items on sales of $28 billion in the quarter, which
began on July 10 when the automaker emerged from bankruptcy. - Lou Whiteman
Nov. 13: Opel workers not likely to get their 'AG' status: CEO Fritz Henderson, trying to soothe Adam Opel GmbH employees
infuriated by General Motors Co.'s decision to retain Opel, says he's
willing to give the unit a certain amount of autonomy. - Sara Behunek
Nov. 9: GM CEO in Germany to talk about fixing Opel: General Motors Co. CEO Fritz Henderson kicked off a sales challenge
worthy of the slickest used car dealer on Monday, traveling to Germany
to meet with leaders of the company's Adam Opel GmbH unit to discuss
the European automaker's future inside of GM. - Lou Whiteman
Nov. 6: GM revamps Opel management for restructuring: General Motors Co. appears set to bring in a new team to lead the overhaul of its German Adam Opel GmbH unit. - Lou Whiteman
Nov. 4: What statement is GM making?: General Motors Co.'s decision to renege
on its plan to sell its Adam Opel GmbH European unit to Canadian auto
parts maker Magna International Inc. (NYSE:MGA) is a strong statement
from the board that it is running the show at GM, not the U.S.
government. - Sara Behunek
Oct. 27: Fisker buys old GM facility: As expected,
venture funded Fisker Automotive Inc. announced the purchase of a
production facility in Wilmington, Del., from the old General Motors,
known Motors Liquidation Co., which is still in bankruptcy. Overseeing
the announcement was a parade of Delaware politicians including Vice
President Joe Biden, a former senator from Delaware; a gaggle of United
Auto Workers members; and founder Henrik Fisker. - Matthew Wurtzel
Oct. 14: Opel and Russia's automotive future: With the sale by General Motors Co. of a majority stake in Adam Opel GmbH now looking like it will finally close, the Financial Times on Wednesday published a big article
on an underexamined element of the deal: the partnership between Magna
International Inc. (NYSE:MGA) and Russia's OAO Sberbank, which together
are buying the stake. - Kenneth Klee
Sept. 30: GM, dealers, take to the Web -- with mixed results: General Motors Co. has pulled the plug
on its much-ballyhooed experiment to sell cars on eBay, calling the
seven-week program a success but suspiciously offering no sales
figures. The automaker boasted 1.5 million visits to its special
section on eBay Inc.'s (NASDAQ:EBAY) Web site, but it seems GM was
unable to change typical auto customer behaviors like haggling in a
showroom. Dealers were unimpressed, complaining that their staffers
were left to sift through low-ball offers submitted via the Web site. - Lou Whiteman
Sept. 29: Rep. Hoyer plays politics with GM, Chrysler: As expected, politicians continue to play politics with government-owned General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. - Matthew Wurtzel
Sept. 29: GM Saturn sale near close; Opel not so much: General Motors Co. appears to be moving towards completing one
divestiture key to its ongoing restructuring even as another sale faces
fresh uncertainty. - Lou Whiteman
Sept. 21: Penske bets legacy, but not business, on Saturn: It is hard to find two people more respected throughout the auto
industry than Roger Penske, a serial entrepreneur with a knack for
managing turnarounds, and Jerome York, Kirk Kerkorian's right-hand man
through a series of auto investments who sounded an early warning about
the industry's need for radical change. Which is why it is so striking
to see how drastically they disagree over the prospects for General
Motors Co.'s vagabond Saturn brand. - Lou Whiteman
Sept. 18: GM pulls American Axle back from brink: American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. appears to have avoided
the fate of many of its auto parts brethren, reaching a deal with
former parent General Motors Co. to secure $210 million in support that
the company hopes will allow it to avoid a bankruptcy filing. - Lou Whiteman
Sept. 10: GM's Opel headache not cured yet: After months of negotiations, General Motors Co. has finally made a decision
about the fate of its Adam Opel GmbH subsidiary. But the jury is still
out on whether GM has solved its European problem or simply created new
headaches in selling 65% of the company to a consortium of Magna
International Inc. (NYSE:MGA) and Russian affiliates along with labor
groups. - Lou Whiteman
The automaker's planned sale of its gas-guzzling Hummer unit to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. has reportedly been delayed
by China's Ministry of Commerce, with the ministry seeking details
about whether Tengzhong is buying Hummer's patents or just the brand. - Lou Whiteman
Sept. 2: Opel opus from Spiegel lifts curtain on auction:
As we've discussed here,
the sale of Adam Opel GmbH by General Motors Co. has been a months-long
saga with something for everyone -- a heady mix of business, finance
and politics local, national and global. We've been thinking that if
only someone could really get behind the scenes, especially in the
German federal government, it would make a heck of a narrative. - Kenneth Klee
Aug. 28: Talking and talking and talking about Opel:
"Germany says talks with GM on Opel are far from over," says the Friday morning Reuters headline.
Which means that discussions about the sale of the Adam Opel GmbH unit
of General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM), already months old, could continue for
many more weeks, beyond the September 27 German election that has
loomed so large in process. - Kenneth Klee
Aug. 24: Do politics favor GM keeping Opel?: General Motors Co. should hurry up and sell its Adam Opel GmbH unit to Magna International Inc.: That is the message coming from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. - Kenneth Klee
Aug. 20: Who is buying old GM stock?: OK, if you're a day trader and see MTLQQ.PK, don't buy it. The
government and folks at General Motors Co. have warned investors not to
buy old GM stock, but the price is jumping and falling by 50 cents and
more on some days. - Baz Hiralal
Aug. 12: GM-eBay: Promise & peril of selling cars on Web: What if ordering a Buick were more like ordering a laptop computer from
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)? You might like it. The new General Motors Co.
might learn to like it too. - Kenneth Klee
Aug. 10: GM could go public next July, or not: With the new, streamlined General Motors Co. now out of bankruptcy,
attention has turned to when the government-owned automaker will try to
launch an initial public offering. And while its intention to do so is
clear, the particulars of an offering are anything but. - Lou Whiteman
Aug. 6: Opel auction plot is thick, and rich in rumors: John Smith, the group vp who is General Motors Co.'s (NYSE:GM) chief
negotiator for the sale of a stake in the company's Adam Opel GmbH
unit, has some advice for people following this tangled auction: Don't
believe everything you read in the press about it. Specifically, don't
put much credence in reports that a deal with Magna International Inc.
(NYSE:MGA) and its Russian partners, Sberbank
and OAO Gaz, is close. - Kenneth Klee
The
Journal quotes former Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) chairman Bill George on
what GM chairman Ed Whitacre should be doing in the post. - Kenneth Klee
July 30: No Opel buyback, GM exec says on blog: On July 29 General Motors Co. group VP John Smith posted an update,
saying (among other things) that no, "GM does not seek to reacquire
majority control of Opel, from any investor candidate." Left standing
are Tuesday's complaints about the Magna bid -- and, perhaps, some
German suspicions that GM really does have a preference. - Kenneth Klee
July 29: Opel auction gets even more public -- and heated: There haven't been many auctions like the one for the Adam Opel GmbH
unit of General Motors Co. We've commented before on the way that GM's
global restructuring and the participation of the German government at
federal and state level have made this an unusually public process.
Now, as it nears the finish line, it's getting even more so -- to the point where the German government has just asserted its right to have the final say in the process, according to Bloomberg. - Kenneth Klee
July 22: Publicis' GM exposure is less than anticipated: Publicis Groupe SA's (OTC:PUBGY) damage from General Motors Corp.'s
Chapter 11 filing won't be as bad as originally estimated. The
Paris-based advertising agency now says it's owed $12.8 million by GM
following its bankruptcy. That's a large decrease from numbers that
floated around in June when GM said it owed Publicis and its media agency subsidiary
Starcom MediaVest Group $148 million while the French company said at the time the number was closer to $78 million. - Gerald Magpily
July 20: Toyota exec: No decision yet on Nummi plant: A top Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) official said Monday that the
company has not yet decided whether to shutter a plant in Fremont,
Calif., now that joint venture partner General Motors Co. has walked
away. - Lou Whiteman
July 20: No Opel buyback for GM, says econ minister: With final bids due July 20 in the auction of the Adam Opel GmbH unit of General Motors Co. -- details here for
The Deal Pipeline subscribers -- the financial buyers, RHJ
International SA, have a hill to climb if they're to beat out the
preferred bidder, Canadian parts maker Magna International Inc.
(NYSE:MGA) and its Russian partners Sberbank and OAO Gaz. - Kenneth Klee
July 17: House committee digs deeper into auto restructurings: A House committee on Friday approved a resolution requesting the White
House turn over all relevant information about its role in the
restructuring of General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Delphi Corp. - Lou Whiteman
July 15: Compromise in auto dealer termination fight?: Congress' fight to restore dealerships axed as part of the
restructuring of General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC appears to
be reaching its crescendo, as legislation winds its way through the
House and the Obama administration hints it could be open to a deal. - Lou Whiteman
July 15: Nummi's days numbered?: Toyota Motor Corp. is reportedly leaning toward shuttering the New
United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in California instead of
retrofitting it to continue production now that joint venture partner GM has walked away. - Lou Whiteman
July 15: Hummer deal review begins in Beijing: The purchase of Hummer by Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery
Co. Ltd. may turn out to be OK with Chinese regulators. And then on the
other hand, it may not.
As
you'll recall, GM in June signed a memorandum of
understanding to sell the brand to Sichuan Tengzhong, a private Chinese
company with no experience in auto-making. - Kenneth Klee
July 13: Toyota could shutter Nummi plant: Just weeks after GM exited
the Northern California New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. joint
venture, partner Toyota July 10 said it might have
to do the same. - Lou Whiteman
July 13: Opel suitors are speaking up: What's going on behind the scenes in the auction of GM's Adam Opel GmbH we can only guess. But it's probably safe to say
that the sellers are both busy and encouraged. Because what's going on
in public is that the potential buyers are speaking up about their
offers, presumably to enhance their standing in this very public
auction. - Kenneth Klee
July 10: New tech key for new GM: How will GM compete with rivals in the hybrid and electric car market?
At a press conference on Friday in Detroit, chief executive Fritz
Henderson stressed that fuel efficiency and the technology around it
will be a major pillar in GM's new strategy. - Baz Hiralal
Whitacre's presence is important -- for political as well as business reasons. - Kenneth Klee
July 10: GM speeds out of bankruptcy: In what would be a record round trip for a company its size, multiple news reports
say that the new GM emerged from Chapter 11 on the
morning of July 10 at 6:30 a.m., when the papers transferring most its assets from
the old debt-laden GM to the new slimmed down GM were signed. - George White and John Blakeley
July 9: An appeal of GM's sale is a nonstarter: GM remains
on track to sell a majority of its assets to a U.S. Department of the
Treasury-sponsored purchaser by Friday after a Manhattan judge late
Tuesday denied motions to halt the sale and appeal directly to
the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. - John Blakeley
July 7: BAIC: Big plans for Opel in China: More details have been reported about Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp.'s eleventh-hour bid
for GM's Adam Opel GmbH European unit. In its
approach, the Chinese automaker said it was ready to sink $2 billion
into Opel's first plant in China, which would open in 2012 and produce
cars tailored to the local market, according to Tuesday reports by the
Financial Times and Reuters. - Andrew Bulkeley
July 6: Opel's Chinese suitor: In the lead to buy GM's Adam Opel unit is Canadian parts supplier Magna
International Inc. (NYSE:MGA), partnering with Russia's OAO Sberbank
(and perhaps with Russian automaker OAO Gaz, which may be making GM
uneasy). Brussels industrial investor RHJInternational SA has also submitted a nonbinding offer.- Kenneth Klee
July 6: Judge's decision approving GM restructuring: The judge in GM's bankruptcy issued an order giving
the carmaker the go-ahead to sell all of its assets to a new company.
In the decision Judge Robert E. Gerber
of the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan overruled 850 objections
to the restructuring plan, saying that management's restructuring plan
was the only alternative to liquidation. - George White
July 2: As new GM takes shape, another call for gas tax:
The deadline is July 10. The Feds won't fund bankrupt GM past then, we
learned July 1, so unless the court approves a
363 sale and the creation of the new GM by, let's see, a week from July
3, we're looking at liquidation. This and much more about what
happened in court July 1 you can learn in our report in The Deal Pipeline (subscription required). - Kenneth Klee
June 30: Toyota's Nummi dilemma:
GM's decision to drop out of a California joint venture has created a difficult decision for partner Toyota Motor Corp.
Bankrupt
GM said June 29 that its 50% stake in the New United Motor Manufacturing
Inc., or Nummi, facility in Freemont would not be part of the
revitalized company that comes out of Chapter 11. GM and Toyota have
worked together at Nummi since 1984, when Toyota first invested in the
plant. - Lou Whiteman
June 29: GM speculation about Opel, Toyota continues: The day before GM's bankruptcy sales hearing is set
to begin, rumors and speculation about its involvement with Adam Opel
GmbH and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) have bubbled again. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 23: Ad firms waiting for GM's check in the mail: Advertising-related firms who are owed millions in fees from bankrupt GM may have to wait longer than other creditors to
get paid. The auto parts suppliers on the troubled carmaker's critical
vendor list will be first in line for payment, according to CNN, which will come as a blow to firms like Starcom Mediavest Group, which is owed $121 million and is GM's largest creditor. - Gerald Magpily
June: 19: GM reportedly still talking to other bidders about Opel: GM, despite striking a tentative deal
to sell a majority stake in Adam Opel GmbH to Magna International last
month, continues to hold discussions with rival suitor Ripplewood
Holdings LLC, according to a report
on the London Times' Web site. Magna, along with Russia's Sberbank, was
named the preferred bidder subject to completion of due diligence after
beating out both Ripplewood and Italian automaker Fiat SpA after
offering to invest €700 million ($975 million) in the unit in return
for a 55% stake. - Lou Whiteman
June 19: Mom & pop trip up GM restructuring: The Chapter 11 proceedings of GM has hit a speed bump
with bondholders -- but not from the hedge funds or pension funds that
hold millions of dollars in its bonds. Instead the bankrupt carmaker
faces off against a Connecticut accounting professor and his wife who
hold $400,000 of GM's bonds, the value of which would be mostly wiped
out in a restructuring that would give bondholders only 10% of the new
company. - George White
June 18: Detroit insider Girsky named to GM board: Stephen Girsky, a one-time Wall Street analyst who now runs his own
consulting firm, was named June 18 to the board of a revitalized GM as a representative of the United Auto Workers. - Lou Whiteman
June: 18: GM: Clubbed by reality, says prof: Will the much-lamented insular culture at GM finally
change? Possibly, says Marina Whitman, a professor the University of
Michigan's Ross School of Business and a former chief economist at GM. - Kenneth Klee
June: 16: Koenigsegg latest unknown to buy GM asset: The bankruptcies of Chrysler LLC and GM seem to have
flushed out of the garage every name in the industry looking to
scavenge for parts. The latest to drive out is Swedish supercar
specialist Koenigsegg Automotive AB, which has agreed to purchase GM's
Swedish brand Saab Automobile AB for an undisclosed price. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 12: Honda open to GM partnership: Japan's second-largest carmaker Honda Motor Co. Ltd., which just celebrated 50 years in the U.S., said it wasn't interested in buying any GM or Chrysler assets, but it would be open to sharing hybrid and other technology. - Baz Hiralal
June 11: Forgotten voices in GM want to be heard: On
the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stand in the way
of Chrysler's easy walk through bankruptcy, the first rumblings of
resistance to a similar strategy undertaken by General Motors Corp.
emerged. - John Blakeley
June 11: Gentler words get GM's unsecured onboard: After playing hardball with Chrysler LLC's debtholders, the government
took a much lower-key approach in its dealings with GM's bondholders, particularly as the administration weathered
charges that it was throwing out decades of bankruptcy law to get its way in the Chapter 11 filings of the two automakers. - George White
June 10: Pontiac isn't dead yet: Given the uncertainty surrounding its various brands, GM issued a 2010 GM Product Guide
to help its customers sort out what cars will be available when the
model year turns over this fall. And buried at the bottom -- a mention
of the 2010 Pontiac Vibe, the only 2010 model from the doomed brand. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 10: The many perils of mixing gov't and business: The Obama administration says it has intervened in the auto sector only
out of dire necessity, and looks forward to a businesslike
restructuring and getting out as soon as possible. But as the
bankruptcies and bailouts of Chrysler and GM move
along, we are reminded daily of why it's so difficult to keep even the
most well intended government incursion into the private sector on
track. - Kenneth Klee
June 10: Investors want speedy payment on GM swaps: Traders are putting the pedal to the metal for the settlement auction
of credit default swaps on General Motors Corp. A committee of dealers
and investors are planning on holding the auction on June 12 to find
out what issuers will have to pay out on the bankrupt automaker's bonds. - George White
June 9: Why Ed Whitacre as GM's new chairman?: OK, we're not even clear on what the board of the new GM is expected to do, if and when a streamlined version of the
company exits bankruptcy. Still it's hard to resist setting down an
initial reaction to the choice of former AT&T Inc. chairman Ed Whitacre as the nonexecutive chairman of the post-bankruptcy General Motors. - Kenneth Klee
June 9: Political blame game in GM restructuring: It will be some time before conclusions can be drawn as to the success
of the restructuring of General Motors Corp. But a war of words between
the political parties over how we got to where we are is already well
underway. And while not directly related, the Supreme Court's move
Monday to delay and possibly review the Fiat SpA-Chrysler LLC deal has
surely helped to keep the tensions on the boil. - Lou Whiteman
June 9: Penske's different kind of car company: Race-car-driver-turned-entrepreneur Roger Penske will try to create
a really different kind of car company out of the hide of GM's Saturn unit, whose motto once was "a
different kind of car company."
On June 5, Penske Automotive Group agreed
to buy the Saturn brand from the bankrupt GM. Penske will
reportedly apply a unique business model to auto sales. Penske will own
the Saturn brand and look for manufacturers to supply a network of 350
independently-owned Saturn dealerships with products. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 8: GM's rebranding challenge: Does political ideology loom large in car-buying decisions? If not, the barking on the far right about boycotting products from "Government Motors" (see, for example, this Hugh Hewitt column) will probably soon give way to outrage about something else. - Kenneth Klee
June 5: China may block Hummer sale, Saturn sold: There are reasons to believe that China may block GM's sale of Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery
Co. Ltd., a private Chinese company.
And on June 5, GM agreed to sell its Saturn brand to the Penske Automotive Group. In a statement,
GM said, if completed, the deal would save more than 350 dealerships
and 13,000 jobs at Saturn and its retailers in the U.S. - Baz Hiralal
June 4: Penske reportedly wins Saturn auction: It appears a group headed by Detroit auto entrepreneur Roger Penske
has won the auction to acquire the Saturn brand and dealer network from
bankrupt GM. GM put Saturn on the block earlier this year after the brand was not
deemed essential as part of the automaker's efforts to restructure. - Lou Whiteman
June 4: Sberbank buys Opel stake to sell it: Let's be honest: Owning a stake in a wobbly car company in this global
economy is not for most corporations. The chief executive of Russia's
Sberbank on Thursday told Reuters his lender had no plans to remain a long-term investor in Adam Opel GmbH, General Motors Corp.'s European unit. - Andrew Bulkeley
June 4: Romney to save GM?: The Atlantic published
an interesting suggestion or what it called a "modest proposal" for the
Obama administration: Call upon Mitt Romney to save GM. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 3: GM lays down the law with its dealers: In a move not likely to endear the company to its new majority owners
-- the U.S. government -- GM has reportedly sent its
6,000 dealers a letter demanding they go along with the company's
restructuring plans ... or else. - George White
June 3: Magna not bidding on Saturn:Despite the fanfare
surrounding the idea that Canadian auto parts maker Magna International could make a bid for GM's Saturn
castoff, it seems the idea is a nonstarter. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 3: GM Ch. 11: Gordian's Kaufman on govt intervention:The federal government's actions in the bankruptcies of Chrysler LLC
and General Motors Co. could have far-reaching implications for
dealmaking. So says Peter Kaufman, president and head of restructuring
and distressed M&A for Gordian Group LLC. - Suzanne Stevens
June 2: Hummer a rocky deal for Sichuan Tengzhong?: With reports that Chinese truckmaker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd. has won the auction for bankrupt General Motors Corp.'s Hummer truck business, thoughts about nationalism are bubbling up in the media. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 2: GM: What kind of company two years out?: Assuming the financial and industrial pieces all fall into place and GM
successfully exits bankruptcy and manages to operate without too much
government micromanagement, who will design and market the cool cars
that will be needed for a comeback? To put it more broadly, can a
government-sponsored bankruptcy really be a crucible for a reborn and
newly nimble company? - Kenneth Klee
June 2: GM signs MOU for Hummer sale: GM signed a preliminary agreement with an unnamed buyer to sell its Hummer brand,
the symbol of gas guzzling excess that helped push it into bankruptcy.
The automaker filed for Chapter 11 on Monday and received permission to
sell some assets. - Baz Hiralal
June 1: GM's Ch. 11: Gordian's Kaufman on the road ahead: Peter Kaufman, president and head
of restructuring and distressed M&A for the investment bank Gordian
Group LLC, says opposition to a GM reorganization could be larger, more
organized and more vocal than Chrysler dissenters. - Suzanne Stevens
June 1: Magna chair's comments fuels Saturn rumors: Comments Magna International Inc. chairman Frank Stronach gave Canada's leading newspaper The Globe and Mail
suggest he is serious about plans to turn his 52-year-old company into
a major automaker following its purchase of a 20% stake in GM's Opel unit. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 1: GM bankruptcy by the numbers: GM listed $82.29 billion in assets and $172.81 billion in debts in its
prepetition filing, making it the fourth-largest bankruptcy by asset
size -- the common measure of bankruptcy -- behind Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc., Washington Mutual Bank FSB and MCI Worldcom. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 1: Media industry feels pain of GM bankruptcy: Advertising agencies, newspapers and magazines, television and radio
stations, and Web sites will lose hundreds of millions in GM
advertising dollars from the fallen American industrial icon. - Gerald Magpily
June 1: The Deal and GM: You read it first here: GM skids, as expected, into bankruptcy, a shock only
to those who haven't been paying attention and to the mass media, which
has to manufacture surprise for those who haven't been paying
attention. It may be less than dignified, but let me say it anyway: We
told you so. Not once, but twice. - Robert Teitelman
June 1: GM finally attracts some high-pots: There's no little irony in the reports we've been seeing over the past
few days on the Obama administration whiz-kids who have been focusing
their attention on the problems of GM and Chrysler. The Wall Street
Journal introduced us to a 37-year-old former hedge fund guy called Harry Wilson. The New York Times points to a 31-year-old Yale Law dropout named Brian Deese. - Kenneth Klee
June 1: PE firms exposed to GM filing:
In GM's bankruptcy petition filing, the company listed its 50 largest
unsecured creditors. The 29th- and 45th-largest unsecured creditors
listed are Warburg
Pincus and Sun Capital Partners Inc. The claims, which are listed as
trade debt, are rather small, with Warburg Pincus' at $10 million and
Sun's at $4.7 million. - Matthew Wurtzel
June 1: Auto bankruptcies, politics and dealer closings: With GM having joined Chrysler LLC in
government-orchestrated and -financed bankruptcy, one question stands
out: Can the restructurings proceed without major political meddling in
what ought to be business decisions? - Lou Whiteman
June 1: GM in bankruptcy: What to watch: The widely expected news of GM filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
has news outlets -- and Americans for that matter -- in a frenzy. GM
will get $30.1 billion in financing as it cuts jobs and debt, and looks
to a greener future. - Baz Hiralal
June 1: As expected, GM filed for Chapter 11 at 8 a.m.
May 29: A GM bankruptcy filing made mundane: The entire bankruptcy bar, if not the entire nation, it seems, has
been consumed with whether GM will file for
Chapter 11 or not, and when. GM will most certainly file for Chapter 11 on June 1 amid much pomp
and circumstance -- President Obama will likely give a speech, and
there will be countless "location shots" of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
for the Southern District of New York in lower Manhattan. But we can't
help but feel it will all be a little anticlimactic. - Ben Fidler
May 29: GM's expected Ch. 11 could drive up legal fees: GM's principal bankruptcy counsel, Harvey Miller at Weil, Gotshal &
Manges LLP and Martin Bienenstock of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, will be
rewarded handsomely based on previous high-profile bankruptcy cases
such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s filing in September. - Gerald Magpily
May 28: U.S. demand for cash hampers Opel rescue: German government officials emerged from a late-night meeting to review
offers for GM's troubled European unit, Adam Opel GmbH, highly
critical of U.S. government negotiators and their unexpected demand for
more cash. - Andrew Bulkeley
May 28: Payday! GM pays 90,000 workers early: To help put the minds of its employees at ease, the troubled automaker
paid 90,000 workers early this week so that no one would think that
Chapter 11 meant they would get stiffed. - George White
Meanwhile, Proskauer Rose LLP's Jeff Marwil discusses a GM bankruptcy. See the video.
THE LONG AND SHORT OF 60 DAYS
May 28: Saturn bidder assembles team of auto industry vets: Telesto Ventures, one of the bidders vying to take control of General
Motors' Saturn brand and dealer network, has
reportedly assembled a team of auto industry veterans that they hope
will have a chance to give the left-for-dead GM unit a second life. - Lou Whiteman
Meanwhile, see The Deal Pipeline coverage of Opel, GM's German unit: May 28: U.S. demand for cash hampers Opel rescue: Negotiators fail to secure an above-forecast $2.5 billion
in rescue funding from Germany for the GM unit. Earlier, Berlin studied Opel offers, and one of three suitors for GM's European unit looked likely to be
eliminated. - Andrew Bulkeley
May 27: GM bondholders drive markets off cliff: GM's bondholders weren't able to reach a
deal with the automaker under its debt exchange offer, which came in
under the 90% threshold required by the U.S. Treasury to satisfy GM's
debt reduction requirements. The exchange offer expired at midnight on May 26. The Detroit automaker has a June 1 deadline set by the U.S.
government to restructure or begin the process of bankruptcy. Shares of
GM closed down 29 cents, or 20.14%, to $1.15. - Gerald Magpily
May 27: GM's secured lenders breathe easier: Even as GM's restructuring efforts break
down, it's come out that the automaker's secured bank lenders will
manage to avoid the full brunt of the fallout if and when the company
files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The secured lenders will
fully recover their $6 billion in loans to GM, under the bankruptcy
plan being finalized this week by the U.S. Treasury, two people
familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. - George White
May 26: UAW asks members for big concessions: The pain is growing as GM drifts closer to
a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The United Auto Workers union asked
its members to make even more concessions on benefits and salaries in
order to steer the automaker through its troubles. See the UAW
letter here. - George White
May 20: Magna to replace Chrysler in Big Three?: Not only is Magna International Inc. preparing a bid for GM's Opel unit, but now it is considering a bid for U.S. brand Saturn. As Dealscape earlier noted,
Saturn for the most part is the U.S. version of Opel with four of its
five models having Opel analogs. A combined Opel-Saturn under Magna
ownership not only makes sense for Magna, but also might make sense for
the Obama administration's industrial policies. - Matthew Wurtzel
May 19: Saab says three bidders left: With no rescue from Sweden, Saab Automobile AB filed for bankruptcy in February and now is making headway in pursuing an independent strategy, saying three bidders
for the former GM unit remain. In April, it
had signed confidentiality agreements with about 27 potential suitors. - Baz Hiralal
May 15: GMAC Bank, it's time for a new name: Troubled lender GMAC officially changed a unit's
name as affiliated business General Motors closed dealers and got closer to
finalizing a deal with the United Auto Workers. -- Maria Woehr
May 15: Traction control: GM's West Coast technology outpost bridges the gap between Silicon Valley and Detroit. - Olaf de Senerpont Domis
May 7: Cross-border auto bailouts: More arguments ahead?: A dustup now underway in Britain could be the shape of things to come
in the rapidly reconfiguring and economically challenged global auto
industry. - Kenneth Klee
April 28: GM, Chrysler venue hunting Ch. 11 filings: A variable in a possible Chrysler or GM bankruptcy filing is where
proceedings would take place: Detroit, Wilmington, Del., or New York
City. - David Elman
April 27: GM surges on possibility of more government aid: GM rose 20% on potentially receiving
further government aid after releasing plans for more restructuring
that includes phasing out its Pontiac brand. - Gerald Magpily
April 27: White House gives GM restructuring plan thumbs up: The White House auto task force was careful to say it has made "no final decision regarding
the treatment of its current loan to General Motors Corp. or with respect to any
future investments in the company." But following the release of GM's new plan officials seem more satisfied the troubled U.S. auto giant is headed in the right direction. - Baz Hiralal
April 20: GM hopes to raise $652M to fund Opel recovery: GM reportedly hopes to raise at least €500
million ($652 million) to help fund the restructuring of Opel
by selling a stake in the European carmaker. - Lou Whiteman
April 14: GM's new chairman talks to media, warns of bankruptcy: GM interim chairman Kent Kresa warned a bankruptcy filing might be inevitable in a series of
interviews that marked his first media blitz since stepping
into his new role at the behest of the Obama administration. - Kenneth Klee
March 27: GM execs fill up on taxpayer's dime: Some 8,000 GM executive received free gas to the tune of around $12 million a year, according to NPR.
- Gerald Magpily
Feb. 25: Recycling an old idea: Steve Jobs at GM: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is a big fan of recycling, so
it probably warms his heart to see Spark Capital founder Todd Dagres
recycling his November suggestion that GM should replace Rick Wagoner with Apple Inc. founder and CEO Steve Jobs. - Matthew Wurtzel
GM and its fellow Big Three brethren had gone before Congress
the first week of December to argue their case for a bailout. (See The
Deal's live coverage of the House and Senate hearings.) The House passed a bill, but the bailout died in the Senate.
Dec. 18: The Wall Street Journal said GM and Chrysler had reopened merger talks, something that started and stopped earlier in the fall. Chrysler denied the new talks.
Earlier: GM and Chrysler were reportedly rethinking prepack filings; it looked as if the sale of the automaker's corporate, which execs infamously flew in on to Washington to ask for a bailout, could be run into turbulence; and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz chimed in on a possible GM bankruptcy filing. Meanwhile, UAW chief Ron Gettelfinger pledged support for the automakers, and GM said it may need $18 billion, up from $12 billion, to avoid a potential filing.
According to reports, GM employees were bracing
for more bad news, as the company planned to
announce "important changes" alongside third-quarter earnings Nov. 7,
The Deal's George White noted, citing an e-mail The Detroit News obtained. (GM unveiled additional initiatives to further boost liquidity by $5 billion by the end of 2009.) And Isuzu Motors Ltd. wasn't interested
in buying the ailing car company's truck unit, which it's had on the
block since plans to sell it to Navistar International Corp. fell
apart. Isuzu, however, might consider a joint venture, The Deal's Lou
Whitman wrote Nov. 5.
Meanwhile, auto sales were pretty bad
in October, and a deal between GM and Cerberus Capital Management LP
over Chrysler was the subject of many reports. The latest at the time,
Whiteman wrote
Nov. 3:
"Cerberus Capital Management LP has reportedly halted talks to
sell a stake in its Chrysler LLC portfolio company to Renault SA and
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., focusing full attention on a deal with General
Motors Corp. despite the automaker's inability to secure funding for a
proposed transaction."
In October, it looked like a merger between GM and Chrysler could get a boost from the government, but that didn't work out. A Reuters report Oct. 27 indicated
GM and Cerberus had asked the government for nearly $10 billion.
Sources told Whiteman that GM was hesitant to do any deal that wouldn't
help at least in part with the $15 billion in new liquidity the
automaker seeks to help weather the downturn.
Meanwhile, GM's latest move to shore up some of that needed cash is to auction its ACDelco unit, which sells aftermarket parts. The carmaker brought in Merrill Lynch & Co. to advise, it said Oct. 22.
Talks for a deal with Cerberus over Chrysler gained steam again,
Whiteman noted Oct. 17. GM, he said, "might view a transaction as a way
to secure its short-term financial future and to fund its
restructuring." The Deal's Matt Wurtzel wondered whether Cerberus was forcing GM's hand
with maneuverings over GMAC, the finance arm the PE firm partially
owns along with its namesake parent. Days later, The Deal's George
White noted GM and Cerberus seemed to be looking for alternatives.
All
this comes as problems continue to plague U.S. automakers, particularly
against the backdrop of this economy. GM came out and declared that bankruptcy is not an option after a terrible Oct. 9 on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, GM hopes to sell off its Hummer brand in early 2009,
its CFO said Sept. 3. Potential bidders may include a handful of
unnamed Middle Eastern investors, which, like a private equity firm,
could team with an emerging-markets automaker on a bid,
Whiteman noted. A deal may not do much for the ailing U.S. automaker, Whiteman noted, whose sales are down 18.5% for the year and which reported a $15.5 billion quarterly loss Aug. 1, run over by restructuring charges and weak U.S. sales.
Meanwhile, GM said Aug. 20 it had scrapped plans
to sell its medium-duty truck business to Navistar International Corp.,
citing "marketplace and economic changes," or, according to Whiteman:
"economic woes that have slowed the unit's sales." The two struck
a tentative deal for the sale in December 2007. The news came days after
reports surfaced GM had run into some difficulty offloading Hummer. According to press reports Aug. 18, India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska's Russian Machines and Chinese group
Hunan Changfeng Motor Co. are not interested in the brand.
The Aug. 1 earnings news came a day after Standard & Poor's cut its rating on the automaker and its Big Three peers Chrysler and Ford Motor Co., as expected, and weeks after GM unveiled a plan July 15 to boost liquidity $15 billion by the end of 2009
through a series of measures. The company said it would suspend its
dividend, cut its salaried worker costs by 20%, and raise $4 billion to
$7 billion through asset sales and raising funds through capital
markets. The news came about a week after The Wall Street Journal
suggested a restructuring was imminent and weeks after GM laid out
plans to explore options for the Hummer brand and shutter some plants
used in truck and SUV manufacturing.
Meanwhile, as talk of bankruptcy has swirled around the automaker, Whiteman explained that it's just not that easy.
GM, which lost $38.7 billion in 2007, the largest ever by an automaker, reiterated July 8 its only brand on the block is Hummer, Reuters reported,
citing an e-mail from its North America sales chief to U.S. dealers.
The news came a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that GM might cut
thousands of white-collar jobs and could sell or kill some of its
brands, beyond just Hummer. Whiteman wondered whether the Journal item
was leaked to bump GM's fallen share price.
That news came in late June,
weeks after GM unveiled plans to shutter four plants where trucks and
SUVs are manufactured, and undertake a strategic review for Hummer, reportedly enlisting Citigroup Inc. for advice. And Bank of America Securities LLC thought it could plow through
$14 billion by the end of 2010. But with those measures, the
Detroit-based company hoped to save nearly $1 billion annually
beginning in 2010.
"GM is making the moves after an ill-fated bet that sales of SUVs and pickups, long the profit-center for domestic automakers, would hold up even as gas prices spiked. GE chief Rick Wagoner in a statement conceded that consumer tastes are shifting, prompting the Detroit-based automaker's realignment. ...
"While cutting trucks, GM also said it would move forward with the production of a small car for Chevrolet and committed to producing its Chevy Volt electric vehicle by the end of 2010. The company is also adding shifts at plants where strong-selling Chevy and Pontiac cars are built."
GM, which revealed its 2007 loss in February, said it would offer buyouts to 74,000 workers, having said in mid-December 2006 it would offer a fresh round of buyouts. As it struggles domestically and is overhauling U.S. operations, the company has been gaining ground internationally and in 2007, as the two years before, sold the majority of vehicles outside of the U.S. (Chrysler, by contrast, has been trying to grow on the international front.) Further, Whiteman noted, under the new contract GM struck with its workers in October, the company could replace up to 16,000 nonassembly workers with new employees, to whom GM could pay half the salary. (See more on the labor deal below.) The automaker had said in January it was making progress with cost cuts.
RETOOLING
GM in December 2007 announced a tentative deal to sell its division that makes medium-duty trucks to Navistar. Terms were undisclosed, but some analyst estimates said the unit was worth up to $500 million. The agreement was scrapped in August 2008, but the deal at the time, Whiteman noted, should have wrapped up the company's divestiture plan (later expanded), which included Allison Transmission Inc., control of its GMAC financing arm and stakes in a several foreign carmakers. (See more on Allison, GMAC and the stake sales below.)
GM in October signed its eighth joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group, or SAIC. Along with OnStar Corp., the two launched a telematics, or in-vehicle communications company, Shanghai OnStar Telematics Co. Ltd. GM was in August pondering a South American joint venture with Isuzu Motors Ltd. And it could, meanwhile, buy battery supplier Cobasys LLC as it continues a widely adopted push into hybrids and, in doing so, could potentially help itself, if it were successful in curbing problems at one of its suppliers.
GM unveiled further details of the agreement Oct. 15, saying it would shed $46.7 billion of its $64.3 billion retiree healthcare obligations, the balance of which was due to workers in other unions or salaried GM employees. The agreement, Whiteman noted, would leave GM with labor costs more aligned with foreign competitors. The automaker did get its way in seeking limits over a controversial program that allowed union members to continue receiving pay and benefits even when there weren't jobs available to them. GM positioned the labor deal as a way to make it more competitive. How competitive is another question.
If GM is indeed beginning to turn things around, it's been a long road to get here. The tale of the embattled U.S. car company incorporates many harsh business realities: the decline in power of the once-mighty American union; the possible attempt to eliminate the burden of pensions and benefits through bankruptcy protection; and the messy fallout of a changing industry.
Weeks earlier, the GM board rejected the alliance as it was structured, Kerkorian said he wouldn't seek any more GM shares and that his board representative Jerome York was stepping down, and GM's shares headed south. Published reports said GM was readying for war, having hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley to defend it in the event of a Kerkorian-speared takeover attempt.
CORPORATE TUNE-UP
In 2005 analysts said GM would need to slash its labor-related costs to stay competitive. Enter Kerkorian.
The billionaire financier, who once was Chrysler's leading shareholder and is stepping up efforts to help with Ford's turnaround, first approached GM with an offer to buy 28 million shares for $868 million. He eventually landed 7.2% of shares through his Las Vegas investment company, Tracinda Corp., and later boosted his stake to 9.9%.
Kerkorian on June 30, 2006, pushed management for a deal with Renault and Nissan. At the helm of both companies is Carlos Ghosn, himself responsible for Nissan's turnaround. Two weeks later, GM and Renault management agreed to review for 90 days a possible three-way alliance, though industry watchers questioned the real value of a deal.
Ahead of the failed Renault-Nissan talks, GM undertook a series of moves to both raise and save cash, after many months of burning through it.
In June 2006 GM reached a significant milestone in its overhaul plan, with 35,000 workers agreeing to buyout and early retirement offers. Still, an industry source told The Deal at the time that while the attrition program was a positive sign, it would hardly matter if GM couldn't design automobiles that U.S. consumers would want to buy.
One move to deliver the company a substantial chunk of change came in April 2006 when after months of negotiations, GM agreed to sell 51% of its finance subsidiary GMAC to a group led by Cerberus. In exchange, GM took $10 billion to help finance its turnaround plan. (In June 2008, Cerberus agreed to bail out GMAC, whose mortgage unit, Residential Capital LLC had piled up billions in losses. ResCap said June 3 that it would need $2 billion by month's end, up from $600 million. GMAC and Cerberus agreed to buy assets and guarantee debt for ResCap.)
Also in April, GM said it would divest its stake in Isuzu for about $300 million. Terms called for GM to sell its 90.09 million shares in the Japanese car and truck maker for ¥397 ($3.34) each to Isuzu shareholders Mitsubishi Corp., Itochu Corp. and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd.
In October GM cut ties with Subaru maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., selling its 8.7% stake to Toyota for $315 million. In 2001 GM paid $1.4 billion for 20% of Fuji Heavy.
AND THEN THERE'S DELPHI
As U.S. automakers have suffered, so have auto parts companies, many of which found their way to bankruptcy. One particularly messy case has been that of former GM unit Delphi Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 on Oct. 8, 2005, having lost more than $700 million through the first half of that year. The company was headed for the exit earlier in 2008, until investors pulled out of its financing plan. (Meanwhile, May 4, 2009: Could GM take Delphi along for bailout ride?)
As The Deal's Ben Fidler wrote in late May 2008, Delphi on May 16 filed two suits against the investor group, led by Appaloosa Management LP, after it went back on a deal to support the Troy, Mich., parts maker's exit with $2.55 billion in financing. The other targets of the Appoloosa suit, which alleges the investors breached obligations when they backed out of the deal April 4, were Harbert Management Corp.'s Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I Ltd., Pardus Capital Management LP's Pardus Special Opportunities Master Fund LP, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. The second suit was directed just at UBS. GM offered to provide $2.8 billion of Delphi's $6.1 billion exit financing, to the displeasure of the named investors. Fidler explained:
"The investors' decision to back out, which came just as Delphi had at long last secured the $6.1 billion in exit financing it had been seeking, destroyed the company's hopes of emerging from Chapter 11 in early 2008 and forced it back to the drawing board.
"The group said in an April 4 letter announcing termination of the deal that Delphi had breached certain provisions of the agreement, and that it would have to pay the group $82.5 million, plus other expenses for moving on a so-called "alternate transaction." That alleged move involved General Motors Corp. playing a larger role in the exit financing package, of which the investors were wary. ...
"Appaloosa had battled for its position as lead investor in Delphi's restructuring for some time. [David] Tepper's hedge fund had beaten out fellow Delphi shareholder Highland Capital Management LP, which had been proposing an alternate restructuring deal for the parts maker. Delphi, however, rejected Highland's overtures and proceeded with Appaloosa."
A turnaround for any of the U.S. automakers is a tall order, especially in a sour economy. How much more bleak can the outlook get? Whiteman examined the question in April 2008.
"Though [staggering] losses have continued in recent years, GM's and Ford Motor Co.'s near-term bankruptcy risk has actually decreased, thanks to divestiture campaigns ... that have left both companies with billions in the bank. Additionally, a landmark concessionary deal reached with the powerful United Auto Workers union last Fall brought domestic automaker costs closer to foreign rivals.
"Both GM and Ford continue to undergo extensive transformations aimed at restoring their North American operations to profitability. But such overhauls take time and are subject to changing car buyer tastes and design fads. While bankruptcy appears unlikely for the time being, the pain and suffering the automakers are causing for investors shows little sign of letting up."
"Not if it can't attract the capital it needs to meet its
debt payments. Whatever unfolds at GM is a vivid reminder that the U.S.
economy mutates constantly and may be changing at its fastest pace
ever. The Deal three years ago speculated about the enormous fallout a
possible GM bankruptcy could have. It may be time to think about those
repercussions again."
See highlights of The Deal's coverage of how the auto giant got to bankruptcy, what steps it took to emerge and how the Detroit icon is reorganizing to get back on track. 
Is GM a good buy at today's price?