US automaker General Motors Corp. is heading towards a bankruptcy filing after it failed to lure enough bondholders to swap debt for company stock, news reaching here from Detroit said on Wednesday.

The number of bondholders who agreed to the swap was "substantially less" than the 90 percent mandated by the US Treasury Department, which has loaned GM US$19.4 billion, the Detroit News said.

The offer, which expired at 11:59 OM on Tuesday, was widely viewed as unlikely to tempt GM's unsecured bondholders to exchange about US$24 billion in debt for a 10 percent piece of the restructured automaker, the report said.

GM had said previously that the government was preventing it from offering bondholders more than 10 percent shares of the restructured company.

The company has until Monday to complete a government-ordered restructuring that includes debt reduction, labor cost cuts and plant closures.

But a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is likely for the automaker after its offer to exchange US$27 billion in unsecured debt for 10 percent of company stock failed.

GM has received US$19.4 billion in federal loans.

"The GM Board of Directors will be meeting to discuss GM's next steps in light of the expiration of the exchange offers," the automaker said in a statement on Wednesday.

Another US automaker Chrysler, GM's rival, filed for bankruptcy last month even though it had also received billions of dollars from the federal government.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2009)