UPDATE 2-GM says has a number of suitors for Saturn

* GM to proceed with efforts to sell Saturn

* Looks to reach a deal with a buyer later this year

* Retains S.J. Girsky & Co as adviser on Saturn sale

* GM shares up 3 percent (Adds share prices, Saturn 2009 sales, byline)

By Soyoung Kim

DETROIT, May 4 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp has a number of potential buyers for its Saturn brand and retail network and will look to secure an agreement with a specific buyer later this year, the company said on Monday.

GM has retained S.J. Girsky & Co as an adviser to help it review expressions of interest from the potential buyers.

GM, which has taken $15.4 billion of U.S. government loans to operate since the start of the year, has scrambled to unload underperforming brands, including Saturn and Hummer, as part of a sweeping restructuring mandated by Washington.

GM, which first announced plans in February to either spin off or shut down Saturn, said it was proceeding with efforts to sell the brand after receiving interest from several parties.

The automaker's shares rose 3.31 percent, or 6 cents, to $1.87 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The announcement comes as GM faces a June 1 deadline to convince the U.S. autos task force overseeing its restructuring that it has a viable business plan. The automaker is racing to get concessionary deals from its bondholders and the United Auto Workers union, with the government warning the alternative would be bankruptcy.

As part of efforts to divest money-losing operations, GM has also reviewed a spin-off of the Saturn Distribution Corp, an independent GM subsidiary with which Saturn dealers have their franchise agreements, to open it to vehicles from other automakers after 2011.

Last month, an investor group that includes private equity firm Black Oak Partners LLC and some Saturn dealers said it has approached GM about buying the assets of the Saturn brand and distribution network.

GM confirmed it had been in discussions with Black Oak and said there were other investment groups interested in taking over Saturn.

GM created Saturn in 1984 to compete head-on with Japanese vehicles for quality and service and pioneered a "no hassle," flat-price sales model that took much of the negotiating out of buying a car.

But the brand languished over the past decade as GM throttled back on new investments. An attempt to reinvent the brand under the stewardship of retiring GM product chief Bob Lutz failed in recent years to revive sales despite strong reviews for products like the Saturn Aura sedan.

Saturn-brand sales dropped 22 percent in 2008 -- worse than the 18 percent decline in the overall market. Sales are down 58 percent in the first four months of 2009. (Reporting by Soyoung Kim; Editing by Dave Zimmerman and Maureen Bavdek)