(adds details on the proposal, including when GM received
it.)
By Sharon Terlep and Kate Linebaugh
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
With time running out for General Motors Corp.'s (GM) troubled
Saturn brand, a group that includes private equity firm Black Oak
Partners LLC came forward Wednesday as potential buyers.
The group would initially sell GM vehicles through Saturn's
network of 440 U.S. and Canadian dealers and later aim to add
vehicles from other auto makers.
A GM spokesman said Wednesday the Black Oak group is among
several bidders interested in Saturn, and that the auto maker plans
to update dealers within the next week on the future of the
brand.
GM in February promised it would have more clarity on Saturn by
April 17.
The auto maker is struggling to offload Saturn, along with its
Hummer and Saab brands, as it faces a June 1 deadline to
restructure the business or face a government-ordered bankruptcy. A
$13.4 billion government loan is keeping GM afloat as the company
scrambles to slash billions in debt and overhaul its global
operations after President Barack Obama shot down the company's
first survival plan.
The U.S. Treasury, overseeing GM's restructuring, has been
involved in the Saturn process but has not been directly
negotiating the deal.
The precarious financial state of GM's ailing brands and a
global credit crunch have complicated GM's efforts to find buyers
for its brands.
GM spokesman Steve Janisse said the company is weighing several
options for Saturn, including spinning the unit off to its
dealers.
Saturn, created by GM in 1985 to fend off competition from
Japanese-based rivals such as Toyota Motor Co. (TM), has
underperformed GM's already dismal company-wide sales. In December,
GM announced a plan to kill or sell Saturn by 2011.
In February, The Wall Street Journal reported some Saturn
dealers want to spin off the brand it and sell it separately. At
the time, then-Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said the company could
be very open to such an offer. Wagoner was ousted in late March by
the U.S. government.
The Black Oak group said its proposal for the brand would
preserve 10,000 U.S. jobs and keep the Saturn retail network
alive.
GM received the Black Oak proposal on April 8.
The parties didn't provide financial details of the
proposal.
John S. Pappanastos, a spokesperson for the investment group,
said the deal would relieve GM of franchise agreement liabilities
and fallout on other brands if it closed Saturn dealerships, and
would give the Saturn retailers the opportunity to make returns on
their existing operations.
By Sharon Terlep, Dow Jones Newswires; 248 204-5512;
sharon.terlep@dowjones.com
By Kate Linebaugh, Dow Jones Newswires; 248 204-5515;
kate.linebaugh@dowjones.com