Press Release: General Motors Group of Companies

Press Release: General Motors Group of Companies
Date of Release: Oct 29, 2001
Confirms at "A" and R-1 (low)

David Schroeder, Kam Hon / 416-593-5577 ext.2232, ext.2243 / e-mail:
dschroeder@dbrs.com

General Motors Corporation
Rating	Trend	Rating Action	Debt Rated	
"A"	Negative	Confirmed	Long-Term Debt	
R-1 (low)	Stable	Confirmed	Commercial Paper	
General Motors Acceptance Corporation of Canada 
(guaranteed by General Motors Acceptance Corporation)
Rating	Trend	Rating Action	Debt Rated	
"A"	Negative	Confirmed 	Notes & Debentures	
R-1 (low)	Stable	Confirmed	Commercial Paper	
General Motors of Canada Limited
Rating	Trend	Rating Action	Debt Rated	
"A"	Negative	Confirmed 	Long-Term Debt	
R-1 (low)	Stable	Confirmed	Commercial Paper	

The ratings of the General Motors group of companies are confirmed as
indicated above following today's announcement on the spin-off of Hughes
Electronics ("Hughes") from General Motors Corporation ("GM" or "the
Company") and the merger of Hughes with Echostar Communications
Corporation. Under the terms of the deal GM will receive $4.2 billion in
cash, and 11% ownership interest in the new company which, at current
estimates, is valued at $3 billion - 3.6 billion. Prior to completion of
the transaction, GM may exchange up to 100 million of its Hughes shares
to reduce outstanding debt. This would leave GM with approximately 5% of
the new company. GM has guaranteed $2.75 billion of the bridge financing
as part of the deal but this is only expected to remain in place
temporarily. The deal is expected to be completed by the second half of
next year but there is a risk that the transaction will not receive
regulatory approval as currently set. The Company is not under pressure
to return funds to shareholders and it is expected that proceeds will be
used to improve financial flexibility. The value of Hughes and the
potential of monetizing this value has always been a positive
consideration for the GM rating.
Dominion Bond Rating Service Limited (DBRS) will publish a full report
shortly that will provide additional analytical detail on this rating
action. If you are interested in receiving this report, please contact
us at: info@dbrs.com.

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