BUSINESS BRIEFING / AUTOMAKERS

General Motors Corp. said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it used the proceeds of an $884-million Treasury Department loan to increase its equity stake in its financing arm to about 60%.

GM had previously held a 49% stake in GMAC.

As part of the federal bailout for GMAC approved late last year, the financing company received $5 billion from the government’s $700-billion bank rescue package.

In addition, Treasury also said it would lend GM as much as $1 billion so that the automaker could buy additional equity offered by GMAC as part of its effort to raise more capital.