DealZone

Under the bondholders’ deal, they would swap a 51-percent stake in a restructured company for $27 billion in debt, a person with knowledge of the plan tells Reuters Detroit Bureau Chief Kevin Krolicki. The deal would give the United Auto Workers union 41-percent in a new General Motors while the U.S. government would not receive an equity stake, according to the person who asked not to be named because the offer had not yet been submitted.

A committee representing GM bondholders will present the alternative plan to the White House task force overseeing the restructuring of GM and Chrysler later today, the person said. GM said this week it was moving ahead with a plan to offer existing bondholders a 10-percent ownership of the restructured automaker. Under the GM plan, the US government would own a combined 89-percent of the new company.

GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said on Monday the automaker would file for bankruptcy if bondholders did not swap out of 90-percent of the $27 billion they are owed.

Deals of the day:

* There is “reasonable optimism” that a deal between Fiat and Chrysler could be announced on Thursday, Italy’s industry minister said after talking to Fiat’s top management.

* Korea Development Bank (KDB) is considering raising its stake in GM Daewoo, the South Korean unit of cash-strapped General Motors Corp, officials at the state-run bank said.

With just days left to complete deals to slash labor and debt costs or face bankruptcy, Chrysler has won union concessions aimed at paving the way for a deal with Fiat and the U.S. government to save the privately held automaker. The UAW said that deal must be ratified by Wednesday and meets conditions mandated by the Treasury as part of an emergency loan program for Chrysler. Treasury’s deadline is Thursday.

“The patience, resolve and determination of UAW members in these difficult times is extraordinary, and has made it possible for us to reach the agreement we will present to our membership,” UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement. The UAW represents about 26,800 Chrysler workers in the United States. The company also has a contract buyout offer on the table for those workers, which expires today. GM is expected to announce a fresh round of cost cutting later this morning.

The U.S. Treasury was expected to make a new debt restructuring offer to Chrysler’s lenders, who are owed $6.9 billion, as soon as today. Attention has shifted back to creditors. Whether they will show patience, resolve and determination remains a question.  Whether doing so will produce a deal is an even bigger one.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker (right, in the driver's seat next to Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas), who pushed for tough conditions on the $17.4 billion U.S. government bailout for General Motors and Chrysler, said at the Detroit auto show that he hoped Chrysler would find a merger partner to survive.

"Chrysler probably needs to merge with somebody, not necessarily disappear from the standpoint of existence," said Corker, who added the automaker owned by Cerberus Capital Management was not making the needed investment to remain competitive. He spoke to reporters as he toured the show before meeting with executives for GM, Chrysler and Ford.

Corker, whose home state includes the U.S. headquarters for Japan's Nissan, also said he felt GM's debt load was too heavy and it may not meet the restructuring targets set out under the $13.4 billion loan granted to the company by the Bush administration.