P. M. BRIEFING : GM Sells 5% of Stake in Isuzu
<i> From Times Wire Services</i>
DETROIT — General Motors Corp. said today it has sold about 5% of its holdings in Isuzu Motors Ltd., dropping its stake in the Japanese auto maker to 38.2% and earning about $82 million after taxes.
GM and Isuzu have been associated for 18 years. Currently, Isuzu makes the Geo Storm subcompact car for GM, which is sold through the U.S. auto maker’s Chevrolet dealers.
GM sold about 20 million shares of Isuzu to Japanese financial institutions that already own shares of Isuzu, said GM Executive Vice President John F. Smith Jr.
GM spokesman John Pekarek said the company decided to sell the shares “to take advantage of our initial investment.” He said the sale was completed with a handful of institutions at the same time it was announced.
