GM Sends Out Financial Data for Possible Hummer Sale (Update2)
(Updates with closing share price in final paragraph.)
By Greg Bensinger
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., looking to
raise cash as U.S. sales slump, said it started distributing
financial information to potential buyers of its Hummer sport-
utility-vehicle unit.
The automaker ``has had interest from a few parties,'' said
Joanne Krell, a spokeswoman for Detroit-based GM, in an interview
today. She declined to name them. GM hasn't set a date for a
possible sale of Hummer and still is considering other options
for the division, Krell said, without giving details.
Selling Hummer would help GM toward its goal of increasing
liquidity by $15 billion by the end of 2009 through actions
including asset sales. Hummer's U.S. sales this year through
September declined 47 percent, more than double GM's 18 percent
drop, as high gasoline prices curbed SUV demand.
GM hired Citigroup Inc. for a review of the unit that began
in June. The automaker acquired rights to the brand in 1999 from
AM General LLC for an undisclosed sum. On Oct. 15, GM named
Cadillac general manager James Taylor to the newly created job of
Hummer chief executive officer to help with the unit's
transition.
Hummer sales peaked in 2006 at 71,524 vehicles, before
dropping 22 percent last year, according to Autodata Corp. in
Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
GM rose 3 cents to $6.43 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 74 percent
this year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Bensinger in New York at +1-212-617-8557 or
[email protected]
(Updates with closing share price in final paragraph.)
By Greg Bensinger
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., looking to
raise cash as U.S. sales slump, said it started distributing
financial information to potential buyers of its Hummer sport-
utility-vehicle unit.
The automaker ``has had interest from a few parties,'' said
Joanne Krell, a spokeswoman for Detroit-based GM, in an interview
today. She declined to name them. GM hasn't set a date for a
possible sale of Hummer and still is considering other options
for the division, Krell said, without giving details.
Selling Hummer would help GM toward its goal of increasing
liquidity by $15 billion by the end of 2009 through actions
including asset sales. Hummer's U.S. sales this year through
September declined 47 percent, more than double GM's 18 percent
drop, as high gasoline prices curbed SUV demand.
GM hired Citigroup Inc. for a review of the unit that began
in June. The automaker acquired rights to the brand in 1999 from
AM General LLC for an undisclosed sum. On Oct. 15, GM named
Cadillac general manager James Taylor to the newly created job of
Hummer chief executive officer to help with the unit's
transition.
Hummer sales peaked in 2006 at 71,524 vehicles, before
dropping 22 percent last year, according to Autodata Corp. in
Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
GM rose 3 cents to $6.43 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 74 percent
this year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Bensinger in New York at +1-212-617-8557 or
[email protected]
