(PTI): A majority of General Motors bondholders have reportedly agreed to support a plan which would allow them to hold up to 25 percent of the company’s stake.

Bondholders with slightly more than 50 percent of GM’s $27.2 billion in debt agreed to support the plan, which means that GM is moving closer to bankruptcy filing, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. No official announcement of the vote tally has yet been made.

Under the plan, bondholders would initially get a 10 percent stake in the company and have the rights to buy an extra 15 percent of GM’s stock at a low price, the paper said.

They would also control 25 percent of the ‘new GM’, the new company which will be created after GM files for bankruptcy.

The new plan would see the government hold a 72.5 percent stake in GM in return for possibly more than $50 billion of fresh funding for the automaker.

On Saturday, Germany signed a deal with Canadian auto parts group Magna to save automaker Opel from the imminent bankruptcy of its US parent, GM.

The deal will protect Opel and its 50,000 workers in Europe if GM files for bankruptcy in the US — a move which is expected to take place on Monday.