GM to sell its shares of Suzuki & Isuzu

GM tipped to sell Suzuki stake,
06mar06

EMBATTLED US carmaker General Motors had finalised plans to sell its entire 20 per cent stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor to end a capital tie-up which dated back to 1981, a report said yesterday.

The world's biggest automaker, which has been wallowing in losses, is the largest shareholder of Suzuki and has told the Japanese carmaker about its decision to end the tie-up, Japanese business daily the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources.

Suzuki, a specialist in small cars, is also in talks with GM about selling its interest of about 11 per cent in South Korea's GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Co to the US firm, the report said.

GM's stake in Suzuki is worth about ¥270 billion ($A3.1 billion) if calculated based on the market value of the Japanese firm's outstanding shares, which stood at ¥1.34 trillion yesterday.

GM appears to have requested Suzuki to buy back the shares, it said.

Officials of Suzuki and General Motors Japan here were not immediately available for comments on the report.

In October 2004, GM sold all of its shares in Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, renowned for its Subaru brand cars.

Under pressure from its shareholders to sell assets, GM may also sell its 7.9 per cent stake in Isuzu Motors Ltd, another major Japanese automaker, the report said, citing unnamed industry observers.

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