L’ultimo piano di GM prevede un produttore auto molto più piccolo
BILL VLASIC e NICK BUNKLEY
● Su spinta del governo, General Motors sta negoziando con il sindacato United Automobile Workers (UAW), perché i lavoratori accettino quote di GM per finanziare metà dei $20MD di obbligazioni per la previdenza sanitaria dei pensionati.
● UAW ha già accettato un accordo simile con Chrysler, che ha ottenuto un prestito da $4MD dal governo, e ne attende altri $6MD. Il nuovo fondo di previdenza sanitaria per i pensionati avrà la maggioranza in Chrysler (55%) in cambio dell’approvazione di risparmi per $4,5 MD sul costo del lavoro (dimezzamento dei suoi contributi al fondo sanità) che il gruppo attuerà per rimanere competitivo.
● L’accordo sospende gli aumenti salariali legati all’aumento dei prezzi, limita le maggiorazioni per gli straordinari e riduce i giorni di ferie pagati.
o Fiat dovrebbe acquisire il 35% di Chrysler, il 10% il governo e i creditori.
– General Motors intende eliminare altri 21 000 operai di fabbrica, chiudere 13 stabilimenti quasi dimezzare la sua rete attuale di 6500 venditori, chiudere la divisione Pontiac.
● A fine ristrutturazione GM dovrebbe avere solo 38 000 lavoratori sindacalizzati e 34 stabilimenti negli Usa, contro i 395 000 addetti e gli oltre 150 stabilimenti del 1970; la sua quota di mercato attuale è del 18% contro il 50% precedente.
● Senza queste misure l’Amministrazione Obama non è disponibile a erogare a GM altri prestiti; a GM occorrerebbero prestiti per altri $11,6 MD, per un totale di $27MD.
● Finora il governo americano ha prestato a GM $15,4 MD.
Si prevedono difficoltà per GM a far accettare agli (grandi) azionisti le perdite …; il piano per GM prevede che il Tesoro americano avrà una quota di almeno il 50%, in cambio della rinuncia ai suoi prestiti di $10MD; il fondo sindacale avrà una quota del 39%.
April 28, 2009
G.M.’s Latest Plan Envisions a Much Smaller Automaker
DETROIT — For all the uncertainty swirling around General Motors, the troubled automaker said Monday that one thing was clear: it must become drastically smaller if it hopes to remain a viable company, regardless of whether it has to file for bankruptcy.
– G.M. said it would eliminate another 21,000 factory jobs, close 13 plants, cut its vast network of 6,500 dealers almost in half and shutter its Pontiac division.
– By the time it is finished, G.M. expects to have only 38,000 union[e] workers and 34 factories left in the United States, compared with 395,000 workers in more than 150 plants at its peak employment in 1970.
One goal of this latest plan was to convince the Obama administration, which has been skeptical of G.M.’s previous restructuring goals, that the company is willing to take harsh measures and cut its bloated infrastructure to match its steadily declining share in the United States.
– Absent such steps, the government has said it is reluctant to lend the company more money. But for the first time since it toppled into financial crisis last year, G.M. appears to be earning government support.
– That might mean billions more in loans if the company’s stakeholders can come to an agreement before a deadline at the end of May. G.M. said on Monday that it needed to borrow $11.6 billion more, for a total of $27 billion.
– President Obama’s auto task force said Monday it had “made no final decision” on future investments in G.M., which is subsisting on $15.4 billion in federal loans. The task force, however, called the new plan an “important step in G.M.’s efforts to restructure its company.”
This plan is a far cry from G.M.’s strategy of just a year ago, when it was waging a spirited battle with Toyota for the title of world’s largest automaker.
– Where once G.M. had a 50 percent share of the market for new vehicles in the United States, the company hopes to at least hang on to its current 18 percent share.
Analysts warned that even those projections could be optimistic. “There is still a huge risk for market share losses beyond what the company is forecasting,” said John Casesa, an industry consultant.
G.M., however, still faces difficult odds of restructuring outside of bankruptcy court.
– The company is still negotiating with the United Automobile Workers union[e]. The government wants the union[e] to accept company stock to finance half of G.M.’s $20 billion obligation for retiree health care.
– The U.A.W. this weekend agreed to a similar health care deal with Chrysler, which has borrowed $4 billion from the government and hopes to get $6 billion more. The union’s new retiree health care trust would own a majority stake in Chrysler in exchange for helping the carmaker save $4.5 billion.
– A summary given to union[e] leaders said Fiat would ultimately own 35 percent and that 10 percent would be held by the government and Chrysler’s lenders, two people with direct knowledge of the deal said.
– Chrysler would give the union[e] a 55 percent stake to cut its obligations to the health care trust in half, said these people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the agreement have not been released publicly.
– The deal suspends cost-of-living pay increases, limits overtime pay and reduces paid time off. It also eliminates dental and vision benefits for retirees. It also provides for Fiat to begin building cars in at least one Chrysler plant.
G.M., however, will have more trouble winning over its bondholders.
– The company, after consulting with Treasury officials, offered on Monday to give the holders of $27 billion in unsecured debt 225 shares in G.M. stock for every $1,000 in debt.
G.M. said it would have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection unless 90 percent of the vast bondholder group accepted the terms by June 1.
“I can’t imagine that this is going to go through,” Shelly Lombard, a bond analyst with the firm Gimme Credit, said. “This is not an olive branch to come back to the table. This is basically a sledgehammer. Having said that, I’m not sure that bondholders have a lot of other options.”
Fritz Henderson, G.M.’s chief executive, also expressed doubts that enough bondholders would take the offer. Even if they do not, which would push the company into bankruptcy, he said he expected the company to pursue its restructuring.
“If it can’t be done outside a bankruptcy, we’ll do it in a bankruptcy,” he said.
– If bondholders approve the debt-for-equity exchange, they would own about 10 percent of G.M., making them a minority shareholder in a company controlled by the Treasury and the U.A.W.’s retiree trust.
– According to the offer, the Treasury would own at least 50 percent of G.M. in exchange for forgiving about $10 billion in federal loans. The union[e] trust, in turn, would receive a stake of about 39 percent.
– A committee of big G.M. bondholders on Monday called the offer a “a blatant disregard for fairness for the bondholders” and an example of “political favoritism” toward the U.A.W. “The current offer is neither reasonable nor adequate,” the committee said.
Representative Thaddeus McCotter, a Michigan Republican, is concerned that some bondholders want the company to go bankrupt because they also hold credit-default swaps insuring them against losses.
– He is urging the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, to disclose which G.M. bondholders have default swaps from the American International Group, the insurance company that was bailed out by the government.
“It would be unconscionable to use taxpayer money to help people benefit from the bankruptcy of General Motors,” Mr. McCotter said.
– Several industry analysts said the bondholder offer appeared destined to fail.
“Unless the offer is revised before May 8, G.M. could potentially file for Chapter 11 protection by the end of next month,” Brian Johnson, of Barclays Capital, wrote in a note to clients.
Many dealers said they were stunned by how quickly G.M. wanted to eliminate more than 2,600 showrooms.
“This is just too rapid, and I think it’s going to create a disorderly shutdown of a lot of stores,” said John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association. “In the short term, they’re likely to lose sales, which is counterproductive to G.M.’s recovery.”
Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, said he received assurances from the task force late Monday that protecting jobs would be a high priority as it evaluated G.M.’s new plan.
“The depth of the pain inflicted on our workers, families and communities by these decisions should not be minimized,” Mr. Levin said. “It appears G.M. was left no choice, and I now believe bondholders have no choice, either, but to accept significant losses as a better alternative to bankruptcy.”