DETROIT (Dow Jones) --General Motors Corp.'s ( GMGMQ) unsecured bondholders stand to get an additional 2% of equity in the post-bankruptcy GM in the event that unsecured claims against the auto maker exceed $35 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

The equity would be in addition to a 10% share in the new GM promised to bondholders along with warrants for an another 15%.

The additional equity will go into the so-called "Old Co." Stock in Old Co. will eventually be transferred to existing bondholders.

GM has no estimate of how much in claims may eventually be filed against the old company. In discarding unwanted assets, the company is leaving behind many old factories that could pose environmental issues as well as lawsuits from numerous groups and individuals, from accident victims to asbestos-related claims.

A bankruptcy judge approved a sale of GM's profitable assets Sunday to a new GM, leaving the money-losing parts of the business to be liquidated. The sale process could stretch on for several years.

Last week, in testimony leading up to the ruling, lawyers representing a variety of groups with unsecured claims against GM argued against the sale, saying it left their clients no recourse.

Judge Robert Gerber said leaving such claims out of the bankruptcy process was necessary to "preserve the continuation of GM's business." He said the decision to shield GM from so-called successor-liability issues was "the only truly debatable issues in this case."

With the sale approved, GM could exit bankruptcy in as little as two months. The company will be named General Motors Company, while the remaining business will be called Motors Liquidation Company.

GM's bondholders lost big in the auto maker's bankruptcy, which ultimately converted $27 billion in debt to a 10% equity stake in the new company, an outcome that amounted to cents on the dollars. Under the deal, the U.S. government will become GM's majority owner after Chapter 11, with the United Auto Workers and Canadian governments holding large stakes.

-By Sharon Terlep; 248-204-5532; sharon.terlep@dowjones.com.