Suzuki says $746 million exposure to GM firms

HAMAMATSU, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese small car maker Suzuki Motor Corp said on Tuesday it had exposure of around 72 billion yen ($746 million) to affiliates of General Motors Corp, mainly through a debt guarantee.

Suzuki will continue teaming up with GM on the development of environmental technologies as requested by the U.S. carmaker, but Suzuki will not likely help GM develop small cars, Suzuki's chairman Osamu Suzuki told a news conference.

Suzuki said in a statement it had no direct exposure to GM, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday, and the main item was a $400 million debt guarantee to a joint venture car maker in Canada, Cami Automotive.

The rest of the exposure was mostly in the form of accounts receivable, Suzuki said.

The company, which supplies cars to some GM group firms, said the total exposure was equivalent to 9.6 percent of group net assets.

Suzuki said it would book loss reserves and revise earnings outlooks if needed, adding that it expected limited impact on its operations.

Suzuki shares rose 0.7 percent to 2,125 yen, underperforming Tokyo's auto sector subindex, which rose 2.2 percent.

GM, which owned as much as 20 percent of Suzuki until 2006, sold the stake in steps by last November.

Their existing ties include the joint development of fuel-cell cars as well as the manufacturing joint venture in Canada. Suzuki also supplies compact cars to Opel, GM's European wing which is being sold separately.

GM also sold all of its take in Isuzu Motors, a Japanese truck maker that was nearly half held by GM previously, by 2006, although there are still operational ties.

Shares of Isuzu, which has formed a tie-up with Toyota Motor Corp since GM's share sale, traded up 1.2 percent.

($1=96.56 Yen)

(Reporting by Yumiko Nishitani and Nobuhiro Kubo)