GM Executives Met Monday With Obama Autos Team On Aid Request
16 Março 2009 - 6:40PM
Dow Jones News
Members of President Barack Obama's autos task force met with
General Motors Corp.'s (GM) top executives on Monday in an effort
to decide whether the auto maker should get billions more in
federal aid.
GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner and Chief Operating
Officer Fritz Henderson spent about two hours fielding questions
from Obama's autos team in Washington D.C., according to a person
familiar with the meeting. It was the first meeting between GM and
the Obama team since the group was in Detroit last week to learn
more about the auto industry.
"They're working as hard as any group has on what is an
incredibly complex issue," the person said, describing the
gathering as "fact finding."
The Obama administration is supposed to decide on March 31
whether GM and Chrysler get to keep $17.4 billion in federal loans
they've received, and if the companies should get $21.6 billion in
additional loans.
The auto makers have until the end of the month to cut deals
with bond holders and the United Auto Workers to swap billions of
dollars of debt for equity in a restructured company. The deals are
a condition of the federal loans.
GM is seeking $16.6 billion in additional U.S. loans and at
least $6 billion from other governments. Wagoner is scheduled to
meet with German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
later Monday to discuss the survival of Opel, GM's European
subsidiary, and the auto maker's aid request.
GM had previously warned it would need $2 billion by the end of
the month to avoid running out of cash, but last week said it could
do without the infusion for now.
Monday's meeting comes a week after the automotive task force,
Steven Rattner and Ron Bloom, visited the metro Detroit area to
tour both GM and Chrysler LLL plants and meet with the United Auto
Workers union.
A spokeswoman for Chrysler, which is seeking $5 billion in
additional loans, said the company did not meet with government
officials on Monday.
A Treasury official didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
-By Sharon Terlep; 248-204-5532; sharon.terlep@dowjones.com.
(Jeff Bennett and Josh Mitchell contributed to this story)