U.S. automaker General Motors Corp will move quickly into bankruptcy if necessary, chief executive Fritz Henderson said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper published on Friday.

The company warned this week there is a growing risk it could file for bankruptcy by June as it has 60 days to reach deeper concessions with bondholders and unions after its previous restructuring plan was rejected by the U.S. government.

If we have to resort to bankruptcy then we're going to do it fast...there are non-traditional ways to do this but it requires a fair amount of force, will and leverage and we have force, will and leverage, Henderson said in comments published on the newspaper's website.

Henderson, who took over the reins at the struggling carmaker in a board shake-up on Monday, said the over-riding objective of a clean and healthy balance sheet is not negotiable.

(Reporting by Matt Falloon; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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