GM biggest industrial bankrupt in US history
Jun 2 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal
US car group General Motors has filed for bankruptcy and paved the way for a "new GM" to be formed under majority government control.
In the largest such move in US industrial history, the firm entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing it to restructure without going into liquidation.
GM’s main European business Opel and its UK brand Vauxhall will not be affected by the bankruptcy protection move. This is because their ownership has been transferred to a trust fund before their sale, said GM Europe.
And Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was confident many of Vauxhall’s 5,000 UK jobs could be saved.
“We are determined to save as many of the Vauxhall jobs as possible. We believe that they are viable, we believe that we have put a very strong case to the potential new owners about the importance of the British operations,” he said. “We are confident that we can save a large number of jobs.”
