General Motors Plans to Sell Its Stake in Subaru's Parent http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/business/06place.htmlGENERAL MOTORS said yesterday that it would sell its 20 percent stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent of Subaru, in a deal that could raise more than $700 million.
Much of G.M.'s stake was to be sold to its top foreign rival, Toyota.
The sale would bring in money at a time when General Motors is burning through cash and mulling a multibillion-dollar bailout of Delphi, its largest supplier of parts. The amount is below the $1.3 billion G.M. paid for the Fuji investment in 1999 and the $1.5 billion value the investment carries on G.M.'s books.
G.M. will restate its second-quarter results, taking a charge that will lead to an additional $700 million to $800 million in losses, increasing its loss in the first half of 2005 to more than $2 billion. G.M. shares fell $1.45, or 4.8 percent, to $28.63.
The deal has ramifications around the world. It is a blow to G.M.'s troubled Saab brand, which operates a single plant in Sweden and was co-developing vehicles with Subaru.
For Toyota, the Fuji stake will give the company access to Fuji's advanced battery technology at a time when Toyota has said it aims to sell a million hybrid electric vehicles a year by early next decade.
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A Toyota executive said his company would develop and produce vehicles with Subaru, which could provide some measure of help to Toyota in reaching its American sales goals. At a news conference in Japan, Mitsuo Kinoshita, a Toyota executive vice president, said his company would also use Fuji's "various advanced technologies."
Fuji is developing advanced batteries that it says last longer than the batteries currently used in hybrids and can better handle temperature extremes.
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There is no evidence that General Motors ever learned anything from Subaru.
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