Judge gives final OK to GM's bankruptcy financing

NEW YORK: A bankruptcy judge ruled on Thursday that General Motors Corp. can have access to its full $33.3 billion in bankruptcy financing.

Judge Robert Gerber gave final approval to the financing after he had given preliminary approval earlier this month for GM to use $15 billion of the total.

The billions in U.S. and Canadian government financing are intended to keep the Detroit-based automaker going until it can sell its assets to a new company and emerge from bankruptcy protection.

The U.S. government will take a 60 percent ownership stake in the new company, and the Canadian government will get 12.5 percent. The United Auto Workers union and GM's unsecured bondholders will own the rest.

Later in Thursday's hearing, a group of retired GM workers concerned about losing their benefits was expected to ask that they be granted their own committee, which would entitle them to have their legal fees paid by the automaker's estate.