General Motors reports that it has come to an agreement to sell its Nexteer steering operations. Nexteer, which had $6.2 billion in revenue as recently as 2008, was acquired by GM as part of a deal to help Delphi exit bankruptcy. The buyer? Pacific Century Motors, which is part of The Tempo Group with ties to the government in Beijing.

The General has been publicly looking to offload Nexteer since January, but the bidding reportedly became more intense after 2,100 workers at a Saginaw, MI plant agreed to concessions. Nexsteer has 6,200 employees in total and 22 manufacturing sites around the world. The steering company also has 60 global customers, though GM accounts for nearly half of its overall work.

Nexteer is being offloaded in part because steering technology is deemed to be a non-core asset. Investing in steering technology takes cash from core technologies like powertrain development. According to General Motors vice chairman Stephen J. Girsky, "The sale of Nexteer to PCM supports our objective to focus on our core auto business and is the final step in our efforts to position Nexteer as an independent supplier."

Official GM press release available after the jump.



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