General Motors: Opel sale to provide $2 billion for share buybacks

General Motors stated the sale of its European Opel and Vauxhall operations will free $2 billion to speed up planned share repurchases.

GM previously approved a total of $14 billion in share repurchases and has $8 billion remaining under that strategy, Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens informed analysts and investors during a conference call on Monday. The automaker can accelerate those buybacks, in part as it will lower its target minimum cash balance to $18 billion from $20 billion presently.