General Motors Corp., raising cash as a U.S. sales slump extends losses, said it may sell its ACDelco replacement-parts business.
Merrill Lynch has been hired to assist in the possible sale, Detroit-based GM said in a statement today. ACDelco, based in Grand Blanc, Michigan, makes parts such as batteries, oil filters and windshield wipers, and has about 600 employees.
GM, the largest U.S. automaker, may divest ACDelco as part of efforts to raise as much as $4 billion through asset sales, which may also include its Hummer brand, a parts plant in France and its medium-duty truck business. GM wants to increase its available funding by $15 billion by the end of 2009.
The automaker is raising cash after $69.8 billion in losses since the end of 2004 and an 18 percent slide in its U.S. sales of cars and light trucks this year through September. GM also is negotiating for a merger with Chrysler LLC, people familiar with the situation have said.
GM fell 31 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $6.23 at 11:03 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
