GM Pondering Sale of Defense Unit

You can always tell when General Motors is in financial trouble. It places 
an asset, even a valuable one, up for sale to bail itself out. GM officials 
have confirmed they are in discussions with potential buyers of GM Defense, 
a unit that manufactures small military vehicles. According to the Detroit 
Free Press, a potential buyer is General Dynamics.

GM has to do something to shore up its pension fund. The fund suffered 
miserably through recent decline of the stock market, but it is also the 
reason why analysts lowered their rating on GM stock while it was on a 
steady climb from its post-9/11 doldrums. The stock rose from a low of just 
under $50 a share earlier this year to a high of $68 a share and then in 
the last few weeks dropped to its current price of $41 a share.

The GM Defense unit is reported to have annual sales around $700 million.

Also reported to be on the auction block is GM Locomotive, a unit that 
makes locomotives and diesel engines. Its annual sales are estimated to be 
$500 million.