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June 2 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. plans to sell

its Hummer brand of sport-utility vehicles to Sichuan Tengzhong

Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd., a Chinese equipment maker,

according to five people familiar with the situation.

GM, which filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, has a

memorandum of understanding with the Chengdu, China-based

company, said the people, who declined to be identified because

the agreement is confidential. At least one other party is still

interested in buying Hummer, though those talks are on hold, one

of the people said.

The deal should be completed by the end of the third
quarter, Detroit-based GM said in a statement today disclosing
the memorandum of understanding. The biggest U.S. carmaker

didn?t identify the buyer or financial terms of the accord.

Hummer was estimated to be worth $500 million, Chief Executive

Officer Fritz Henderson said in bankruptcy court documents.
Tengzhong is a privately owned maker of special-use
vehicles, structural components for highways and bridges, and

construction machinery, according to its Web site. A call to the

company after regular business hours was not answered. A GM

spokesman, Nick Richards, said he could not comment on

speculation.

GM won approval in its first day in bankruptcy court to

sell assets as soon as next month after collapsing under $172.8

billion in debt and failing to adapt to consumer demands for

models that use less fuel. It also expects to shed Saturn and

Saab as part of its restructuring.