Detroit, Mich.-based automaker General Motors Co. (GM) announced on March 9 board authorization of its capital allocation strategy, which includes a return of about $10 billion to shareholders by the end of 2016. The plan includes a newly authorized $5 billion in share repurchases beginning immediately as well as the previously announced increase in dividends resulting in outflows of about $5 billion through the end of next year. As a result, we are affirming our ratings on GM, including the 'BBB-' corporate credit rating. In our view, the higher level of share repurchases (compared with our previous expectations) and the associated net debt leverage increase leaves the company with a more limited, but still sufficient, cushion in the event of
