Bankruptcy court documents show Delphi now has a few more weeks to negotiate steering sale

Delphi gets until May 21 to reach GM, lenders deal

NEW YORK — Auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. has a few more weeks to work out a deal to sell its steering business to General Motors Corp., according to documents filed Wednesday in bankruptcy court in New York.

The sale was to be discussed at a Delphi court hearing May 7 but was adjourned to the company’s May 21 hearing.

On April 29, the government’s auto task force rejected a deal that would have allowed Delphi to sell the Saginaw, Mich.-based business to GM and let the struggling automaker increase its credit commitments to Delphi by $150 million. But the door was left open to a later agreement.

The steering operation employs about 7,730 people globally, including 3,080 in Saginaw.

The Treasury Department oversees the auto task force. Detroit-based GM needs government approval to buy the steering division because it has received $15.4 billion in government loans and faces a June 1 deadline to restructure or go into bankruptcy protection.

Troy, Mich.-based Delphi, GM’s former parts division, has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since October 2005.