GM says likely to miss debt payment deadline

A GM inflatable sign is seen during the Barrett-Jackson auto auction in West Palm Beach, Florida in this April 11, 2009 file photo. The automaker's CFO said GM won't make its June 1 debt payment of $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N) is unlikely to make a $1 billion debt payment due June 1 because it expects to be in the process of restructuring its debt through a voluntary exchange or bankruptcy court by that point, a spokeswoman for the automaker said on Wednesday.

GM has been given until June 1 to win sweeping concessions from creditors, including bondholders and the United Auto Workers union, under the terms of its U.S. government supervised restructuring.

Spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem said GM was working to offer a bond exchange that would reduce the $28 billion in debt owed to bondholders. Such an exchange could still be in progress as of June 1, precluding the bond payment, she said.

"Should we be required to finish our restructuring within the court process, the June 1 bond payment would be unlikely as well," Rashid-Merem said in a statement to Reuters.

GM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young earlier was quoted as telling the Wall Street Journal that the company was not planning on making its June 1 bond payment.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)