April 21 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., surviving on $13.4 billion in U.S. loans, rose in New York trading after a government auditor said the Treasury will supply $5 billion in additional aid.

The Treasury has said it will provide GM and Chrysler LLC working capital as the companies face deadlines to restructure or lose federal support. Chrysler will get $500 million more from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP’s special inspector general said in a report.

GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said last week the automaker probably will need $4.6 billion more this quarter. Detroit-based GM has until June 1 to strike debt-cutting deals with unions and bondholders and further trim jobs and operations or face a government-backed court restructuring.

GM gained 4 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $1.70 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after rising as much as 10 percent. The shares have fallen 48 percent this year.

Henderson has said bankruptcy is more probable after the Obama administration moved last month to reject the automaker’s February plan to return to profits and asked former CEO Rick Wagoner to resign.

In March, the Treasury announced a program to backstop warranties on new GM and Chrysler vehicles if the two companies were to liquidate or otherwise not be able to honor the agreements. The program, which took effect March 30, has an estimated cost to the government of $1.25 billion, according to the inspector general’s report.

To avoid court protection, Henderson needs agreements from unions and debt holders for savings beyond GM’s Feb. 17 proposal for slashing $47 billion in unsecured claims by 59 percent. Henderson said April 17 that a new bond offer probably would be made this month, without giving details.

‘Anything but Easy’

Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., said yesterday that a GM bankruptcy likely would be difficult.

“One keeps reading about quick and easy bankruptcies. I’ve got to believe this will be anything but easy,” he said at a conference in Laguna Niguel, California. “We really don’t want to compete with a state-owned enterprise. Frankly, that’s probably not in anybody’s best interest, including the government’s.”

GM plans to make a formal offer to bondholders by April 27 to exchange their $27.5 billion in claims for equity, a person with knowledge of the discussions said last week.

The automaker also must slash United Auto Workers health- fund obligations to less than $10.2 billion from $20.4 billion, amounts proposed in the now-rejected plan, or face a government- backed bankruptcy.

GM may be able to reach a union agreement to cut costs for a health-care trust within days after Chrysler LLC, people familiar with the talks said last week.

A Chrysler accord with the UAW probably can be quickly adapted to meet GM’s needs, said the people. Chrysler’s plan is understood by GM to rely much more heavily on equity than cash, one person said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Green in Washington at jgreen16@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 21, 2009 18:04 EDT