General Motors Corp. bondholders forced it to withdraw a plan to swap bond debt for company stock, meaning that the company will most likely enter bankruptcy. The Obama administration was seeking at least 90 percent approval for the plan. It has until Monday to complete a government-ordered restructuring that includes debt reduction, labor cost cuts and plant closures. Bankruptcy is now likely after GM said its offer to exchange $27 billion in unsecured debt for 10 percent of the company's stock had failed. GM has received $19.4 billion in federal loans. The Monday deadline was set by the government. “‘The principal amount of notes tendered was substantially less than the amount required by GM to satisfy the debt reduction requirement under its loan agreements with the U.S. Department of the Treasury,'” GM said in a statement issued Wednesday. The Obama administration has said it would only provide more funds if 90 percent of the bondholders, as well as unionized workers, agreed to concessions that substantially reduced GM's costs. GM also said it canceled meetings set for Wednesday with holders of notes that were not sold in U.S. dollars. The statement said the meetings were to discuss amendments to the debt-for-equity offers, but it did not specify what the amendments were.
