The European Commission Friday cleared a plan by General Motors Co. to buy four plants and the global steering division of Delphi Corp. (DPHIQ), the bankrupt U.S. auto parts company.

The deal was approved in August by a U.S. bankruptcy court as part of Delphi's plan to exit bankruptcy protection after four years. Delphi's lenders will gain control of the parts of Delphi not being sold to GM, which is now majority-owned by the U.S. government.

-By Matthew Dalton, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 1487; matthew.dalton@dowjones.com