GM’s 2nd $5.4-billion payment delayed

General Motors is in danger of running "out of cash" before March 31 if it doesn't receive the second of three federal government loan payments, a top company executive said late Tuesday in Detroit.

The second loan installment to GM of $5.4 billion, which is part of the $13.4-billion rescue plan GM agreed to with the Treasury, was expected Friday but didn't occur. Company officials have attributed the holdup to the complicated nature of the deal.

"It's critical that we receive it," Fritz Henderson, GM president and chief operating officer, said Tuesday. "If we don't get our second installment … we'll run out of cash," he said.

"We scheduled the time for the loans because we needed it when we needed it," he said.

Henderson made the comments at the Automotive News World Congress, an industry conference.

"Frankly it was a combination of us having to supply a great deal of documentation for us to support the second draw and they themselves had a lot of other priorities," Henderson told reporters afterward.

He said the Treasury has been helpful but has been "a little busy" last week and Tuesday, the day the new administration took over. "We expect to receive it in the next several days," he said. Detroit Free Press