Recession reports - GM CEO Mr Fritz defends asset sale
Thursday, 02 Jul 2009
Zee News reported that Mr Fritz Henderson CEO of General Motors defended the automaker's plan to sell the bulk of its assets to a new company and quickly emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Mr Henderson said the No 1 US automaker's sale plan is necessary to get GM back on its feet quickly and cautioned that the government could walk away from the deal if the sale doesn't close by July 10th.
Despite US judge Mr Robert Gerber's urging for the attorneys to keep their arguments concise and to avoid redundancies among their questioning, the hearing dragged on as a parade of lawyers made their way up to the podium to question Henderson.
Mr Gerber said sharply after several tedious hours of testimony that "I think people have forgot why we're here and what we have to accomplish. I'm not going to deny anybody due process, but I expect the questioning to be more focused."
Mr Gerber appeared particularly annoyed when Mr Henderson and other officials were questioned by Mr Oliver Addison Parker an attorney from Florida who claimed to own USD 5 million in GM bonds. Mr Parker spent much of his time at the podium searching for documents, at times asking opposing counsel to provide them, prompting Mr Gerber to put his head in his hands.
General Motors Corp, whose June 1st filing for bankruptcy protection was the fourth largest in US history is hoping to avoid a lengthy sale hearing that could postpone its emergence from Chapter 11. Last month, objections from a group of bondholders and others dragged out rival Chrysler LLC's sale hearing for three days.
Under a government backed deal, GM will sell most of its assets to a newly created company, 60% owned by the US government. The Canadian government will get a 12.5% stake while the United Auto Workers union will take a 17.5% share to fund its health care obligations. Unsecured bondholders receive the remaining 10%.
