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GM Launches Exchange Offers and Consent Solicitations for Outstanding Notes

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:April 28, 2009

General Motors announced today that it is commencing public exchange offers for $27 billion of its unsecured public notes. The exchange offers are a vital component of GM’s overall restructuring plan to achieve and sustain long-term viability and the successful consummation of the exchange offers will allow GM to restructure out of bankruptcy court.

GM is offering to exchange 225 shares of GM common stock for each 1,000 U.S. dollar equivalent of principal amount (or accreted value as of the settlement date, if applicable) of outstanding notes of each series set forth in the table below and is offering to pay, in cash, accrued interest on the GM notes from the most recent interest payment date to the settlement date. In respect of the exchange offers for the GM Nova Scotia notes, General Motors Nova Scotia Finance Company is jointly making the exchange offers with GM.

GM believes its restructuring plan and the successful consummation of the exchange offers will provide the best path for the future success of the company while enabling it to continue operating its business without the negative impacts of a bankruptcy and reducing the risk of a potentially precipitous decline in revenues in a bankruptcy.

In the event that GM does not receive prior to June 1, 2009 enough tenders of notes to consummate the exchange offers, GM currently expects to seek relief under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. GM is considering its alternatives in seeking bankruptcy relief in consultation with the U.S. Treasury, GM’s largest lender. If GM seeks bankruptcy relief, noteholders may receive consideration that is less than what is being offered in the exchange offers and it is possible that such holders may receive no consideration at all for their notes.

Concurrently with the exchange offers, GM is soliciting consents from noteholders to amend the terms of the debt instruments that govern each series of notes and insert a call option to redeem the non-USD notac.

Each of the exchange offers and consent solicitations will expire at 11:59 p.m. New York City time on Tuesday, May 26, 2009, unless extended. Tendered notes may be validly withdrawn at any time prior to 11:59 p.m. New York City time on Tuesday, May 26, 2009, subject to certain circumstances where we may extend or reinstate withdrawal rights.

Consummation of the exchange offers is conditioned upon the satisfaction or waiver of several conditions including the following:

* U.S. Treasury Condition: the results of the exchange offers shall be satisfactory to the U.S. Treasury, including in respect of the overall level of participation by noteholders in the exchange offers and in respect of the level of participation by holders of the Series D notes in the exchange offers. GM believes that at least 90 percent of the aggregate principal amount of outstanding notes, including at least 90 percent of the aggregate principal amount of the outstanding Series D notes due June 1, 2009, will need to be tendered in the exchange offers or called for redemption pursuant to the call option (in the case of non-USD notes) in order to satisfy the U.S. Treasury condition. Whether this level of participation in the exchange offers will be required (or sufficient) to satisfy the U.S. Treasury condition will ultimately be determined by the U.S. Treasury.

* Completion of the U.S. Treasury Debt Conversion: the U.S. Treasury (or its designee) shall have been issued at least 50 percent of the pro forma common stock of GM in exchange for (a) the full satisfaction and cancellation of at least 50 percent of GM’s outstanding U.S. Treasury debt at June 1, 2009 (such 50 percent currently estimated to be approximately $10.0 billion) and (b) full satisfaction and cancellation of GM’s obligations under the warrant issued to the U.S. Treasury as part of one of the U.S. Treasury loan agreements.

* Evidence of the U.S. Treasury Financing Commitment: the U.S. Treasury having provided commercially reasonable evidence of its commitment to provide GM an additional $11.6 billion of funding that GM currently forecasts it will require after May 1, 2009.

* Binding agreements in respect of the VEBA Modifications and U.S. Treasury approval thereof: GM is engaged in ongoing negotiations regarding modifications required by the terms of one of the U.S. Treasury loan agreements to a new voluntary employee benefit association (the new VEBA) established as part of a settlement with The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (the UAW) and the class of UAW GM retirees. A condition to the consummation of the exchange offers is that (a) at least 50 percent (or approximately $10 billion) of GM’s future financial obligations to the new VEBA will be extinguished in exchange for GM common stock and (b) cash installments will be paid over a period of time toward the remaining amount of GM’s financial obligations to the new VEBA. It is also a condition to the exchange offers that the terms of the VEBA modifications shall be satisfactory to the U.S. Treasury.

* The aggregate number of shares of GM common stock issued or agreed to be issued pursuant to the U.S. Treasury Debt Conversion and the VEBA Modifications shall not exceed 89% of the pro forma outstanding GM common stock (assuming full participation by holders of old notes in the exchange offers).

* Binding agreements regarding labor modifications required under one of GM’s U.S. Treasury loan agreements, on such terms as shall be satisfactory to the U.S. Treasury.

GM will use its best efforts to enter into the agreements listed above, however, GM has not reached any agreements with respect to any of the conditions to the exchange offers, and there is no assurance that any agreements will be reached on the terms described above or at all. GM will disclose the terms of any agreement reached with respect to either the U.S. Treasury debt conversion or the VEBA modifications and currently expects to be able to do so prior to the withdrawal deadline of the exchange offers.

The aggregate amount of GM common stock to be issued to the U.S. Treasury (or its designee) pursuant to the U.S. Treasury debt conversion and to the new VEBA pursuant to the VEBA modifications would represent approximately 89 percent of the pro forma GM common stock (assuming full participation in the exchange offers), with the final allocation between the U.S. Treasury (or its designee) and the new VEBA to be determined in the future. Of the remaining pro forma outstanding GM common stock, noteholders would represent approximately 10 percent, and existing GM common stockholders would represent approximately 1 percent. We determined the foregoing GM common stock allocations following discussions with the U.S. Treasury where the U.S. Treasury indicated that it would not be supportive of higher allocations to the holders of notes or to existing GM common stockholders.

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