Delphi says preparing revised reorganization plan

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| Delphi Corp.'s headquarters is seen in Troy, Michigan October 8, 2005. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook |
NEW YORK(/a) (Reuters(/a)) - Auto parts maker Delphi Corp(/a)
(DPHIQ.PK) is preparing a revised plan of reorganization to
file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court(/a), but does not know when
such a plan will be ready, a company spokesman said on Friday.
Delphi, which filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S.(/a)
in October 2005, said in April it would have to rewrite its
reorganization plan after investors backed out of a $2.55
billion equity investment to support it.
"You can expect to see at some point the filing of a
revised plan of reorganization," Lindsey Williams(/a) told Reuters.
"I just don't have the time frame for you."
Williams said Delphi was still engaged in discussions with
former parent General Motors Corp(/a) (GM.N), with Delphi's
statutory committees and with government agencies regarding
Delphi's pension funding issue.
"We are in discussions with the same parties with regard to
modification to our plan of reorganization, such that would
position the company for emergence," he said, adding that talks
were "progressing."
Asked about whether Delphi could be forced to liquidate,
Williams said: "Our efforts are to successfully emerge."
Delphi Chairman Steve Miller(/a), who was chief executive when
the supplier filed for Chapter 11 protection, said in April
that the rewrite could take at least several months. That was
before rising gas prices further pressured U.S. auto sales.
With U.S. automakers struggling to maintain liquidity
through the downturn and severe clamps on lending due to credit
market turmoil, Delphi has had to seek more support from former
parent General Motors Corp (GM.N) while it rewrites the plan.
But Highland Capital Management LP(/a), a Delphi bond holder
that has explored equity offers for the company in the past,
has objected to Delphi borrowing an additional $300 million
from GM.
The additional borrowing from GM would merely sink more
cash into Delphi's money-losing U.S. operations and erode the
value of its profitable assets outside North America(/a), Highland
said in court documents. A court hearing is set for September
23.
"This is even more critical now when it is unclear whether
Delphi will be able to pay its own creditors in full," Highland
Capital said last week.
Delphi, whose debtor-in-possession financing runs through
the end of 2008, also faces potentially billions of dollars of
claims for salaried and hourly workers pension obligations if
it does not complete a planned transfer of liabilities to GM.
The parts maker let funding waivers lapse earlier in 2008
as it was preparing to emerge from court protection, triggering
a deadline of September 30 to complete transfers agreed to by
GM and avoid substantial additional financial obligations.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp(/a) told GM and Delphi in mid
August that the PBGC claim could reach $8 billion if hourly and
salaried plans were to terminate.
Delphi has cut thousands of jobs and shed several
businesses in its reorganization and has intended to freeze its
pension plans upon emergence from bankruptcy.
"As we continue to work through the solution to the funding
issue, we're going to move forward with that since emergence
has been delayed," Williams said.
(Reporting by Nick Zieminski(/a) in New York, and David Bailey(/a)
and Soyoung Kim(/a) in Detroit(/a); Editing by Andre Grenon) |