GM seeks to expand credit line - WSJ

A General Motors logo is seen on a vehicle for sale at the GM dealership in Carlsbad, California January 4, 2012.

(Reuters) - The world's largest auto maker, General Motors Co (GM.N), is in talks with lenders to double its line of credit currently worth $5 billion (3.16 billion pounds) in a bid to consolidate its balance sheet and shrink its pension obligations, The Wall Street Journal said quoting unnamed sources.

Although, the Detroit-based company is in no imminent danger of falling short on cash with very little debt and an available cash of $33 billion, analysts believe that it needs about $20 billion to be in a position of comfort, the newspaper reported.

With the company's European operations suffering major losses, increased spending on new vehicles and need to buy back shares from the U.S. Treasury, GM might just need a good source of money for the future, the WSJ added.

The company is in talks with existing credit suppliers like J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, the paper said.

The company representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of normal business hours.

(Reporting by Sunayan Bhattacharjee in Bangalore) Editing by Bob Burgdorfer