Head of troubled GM Daewoo to visit President Lee's office: source

SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- The chief executive of GM Daewoo Auto & Technology
Co. is set to call on the office of President Lee Myung-bak to make a fresh
request for emergency loans from the nation's state-run bank, a source claimed
Thursday.
GM Daewoo, the South Korean unit of beleaguered U.S. automaker General Motors
Corp., has called since February on its main creditor Korea Development Bank to
provide one trillion won (US$749.6 million) in financial assistance.
But the state-run bank and the South Korean government officials have rebuffed
the plea by GM Daewoo, citing uncertainty surrounding GM, which is now teetering
on the verge of bankruptcy.
GM Daewoo Chief Executive Officer Michael Grimaldi will apparently visit the
presidential office this week, the source said on the condition of anonymity.
Officials at GM Daewoo's public relations team weren't immediately available for
comment.
Early this month, Grimaldi warned that the company's financial position became
"critical" in the current quarter, saying "We are monitoring our cash position
very closely."
GM Daewoo, the third-largest carmaker in South Korea, made the request for
financial aid in February after exhausting a $2 billion credit line.
Since December last year, GM Daewoo has closed or idled its three plants as
vehicle sales plunged and cash reserves dry up.
GM Daewoo posted a net loss of 875.7 billion won last year, marking its first
annual loss in four years. Sales fell 1.6 percent to 12.3 trillion won.
In the first three months of this year, GM Daewoo's vehicle sales plunged 43.8
percent from the same period last year to 135,489 units.
The fate of GM Daewoo became more uncertain this week as the New York Times
reported that the U.S. Treasury Department directed GM to lay the groundwork for
a possible bankruptcy filing by June 1.
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