GM urges quick OK for sale plan
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NEW YORK - Warning that the demise of General Motors Corp. would have a disastrous ripple effect over the entire US economy, a lawyer for the automaker called yesterday for the speedy approval of GM’s plan to sell the bulk of its assets and emerge from court oversight as a new company.
GM lawyer Harvey Miller said in a bankruptcy court hearing that the automaker’s only option to the sale is liquidation. He noted the Treasury Department will cut off funding for the company’s operations after July 10 if the sale is not approved by then.
No other investors have stepped forward with an alternate plan or to supply the more than $50 billion in financing the Treasury will have put into GM before all is said and done, Miller said.
Detroit-based GM’s government-backed plan for a quick exit from Chapter 11 hinges on the sale plan, which would allow the automaker to leave behind many of the costs and liabilities that have made it unprofitable.
But hundreds of parties including bondholders, unions, state officials, consumer groups, and individuals have filed objections to the sale.
Closing arguments in the sale hearing began yesterday. The hearing is scheduled to resume this morning.
