'GM intends to operate the global steering business as a stand-alone business, substantially as steering does today. Although the steering business will, at least in the near term, be wholly owned by GM, a diverse customer base remains essential to steering's long-term future,' said Bob Remenar, president of Delphi Steering. 'Steering will aggressively pursue new business opportunities and technologies, and will retain its independent engineering capability. The existing management team will continue to operate the business, and I will continue to lead the company.' Terms of the sale, which could be completed in the second quarter, were not disclosed. 'A diverse customer base and the ability to self-fund the operations will be essential to the business' long-term future,' GM spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem said in a prepared statement. 'To achieve these goals, new business opportunities and technologies will continue to be aggressively pursued.' GM also has agreed to loan Delphi more money -- $450 million, up from $300 million -- to support the supplier's near-term liquidity needs. The transactions must be approved by GM's board of directors, bankruptcy court and the U.S. Department of Treasury, which is overseeing a $13.4 billion loan package that is keeping the Detroit automaker afloat. Delphi was spun off as a separate company in 1999, filed for bankruptcy four years ago and has yet to emerge as it pursues financing. The move mirrors a strategy Ford Motor Co. employed with its former parts unit, Visteon Corp. In 2005, Ford agreed to take back 24 Visteon plants and facilities, including 20 in the United States. Ford created a wholly owned subsidiary, Automotive Components Holdings LLC, to divest those plants. GM, which will hold on to the steering operations while pursuing a sale, had an option to reclaim Delphi factories under the original spinoff agreement. A source told The Detroit News last month that GM was in talks to take back as many as six U.S. plants By 2009, Delphi plans to have eight factories in the United States, down from its current 14, and a high of 37 plants, Delphi has said in court filings. It plans to cut another 25 percent of its salaried staff to fewer than 7,700 by next year. Its blue-collar work force will shrink to fewer than 5,000. The company also said it will cut another 500 of its 3,200 suppliers by this year, down from more than 5,000 it had in 2005. Last week, Delphi sought U.S. Bankruptcy Court permission to end salaried retiree health care and life insurance as soon as practical after March 31 -- a move that will save the auto supplier $70 million a year and slice nearly $1.2 billion off its balance sheet. Last month, Delphi announced 800 jobs out of 3,600 are being eliminated at the steering division