GM Hopes to Regain Investment-Grade Status Soon

CEO Dan Akerson tells Bloomberg News that he hopes General Motors Co. will restore its credit rating to investment grade within the next 12 months.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Service says GM needs to successfully restructure its money-losing European unit to earn investment-grade status.

GM lost that rating in 2005 and sank deeper into junk-bond territory as it headed toward bankruptcy in 2009. Since taking the company's helm in September 2010, Akerson has focused on maintaining a "fortress balance sheet." On March 31, GM had $31.5 billion in cash and only $3.8 billion in automotive debt.

The company has made other progress, posting record net income of $9.2 billion in 2011. GM earned $1 billion in the first three months of this year, marking its ninth straight profitable quarter. S&P and Moody's Investors Service each now rate GM at one rung below investment grade. Fitch Ratings places the company two steps below investment grade.

Rival Ford Motor Co., whose debt also fell to junk-bond levels in 2005, earned back an investment-grade rating last month from Fitch