The auto-parts supplier wants to extend the loan's maturity, slated for Dec. 31, to June 30, 2008, with an option to further extend the loan through Sept. 30, 2008, according to court papers filed Thursday. Delphi said the six-month extension will allow it to keep borrowing on the loan as it works to exit bankruptcy protection by the end of the first quarter of 2008.

Delphi had planned to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of the year but revised its timetable after changing the terms of its reorganization plan earlier this week. The company was forced to make the changes after it hit trouble trying to obtain bankruptcy-exit financing in a tight credit market.

The amended debtor-in-possession loan carries higher interest rates and commitment and letter of credit fees, according to court papers. Delphi said some fee provisions will be kept confidential.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan will consider the loan changes at a Nov. 16 hearing.

Delphi, which sought Chapter 11 protection two years ago, has said credit-market turmoil forced it to seek a smaller financing package that won't be sufficient to make more than $3 billion in cash payments to its unsecured creditors and General Motors Corp.

As a result, the company amended its reorganization plan to instead give unsecured creditors -- who are being paid primarily with new Delphi stock -- the option to buy additional shares at a discount through a rights offering. GM, Delphi's largest customer and former owner, will get a combination of cash, new debt and new convertible preferred stock.

The scaled-back exit-financing also squeezes Delphi's current shareholders, who will no longer be able to buy shares in the reorganized company at a discount. Instead, they'll still get warrants and the option to purchase through a rights offering up to 12.7 million shares of Delphi's new common stock at face value of $41.58 a share.

Delphi originally sought to obtain about $8.7 billion in financing, including a $1.6 billion asset-based revolving loan, a $5.6 billion exit term loan and $1.5 billion in unsecured notes. Now the company is trying to ink a $6.8 billion deal that includes a $1.6 billion asset-based, first-lien revolving loan, a first-lien term loan of at least $3.7 billion and a senior secured second-lien loan of up to $1.5 billion.

Delphi, based in Troy, Mich., said it plans to present the exit-financing package to the bankruptcy court by Nov. 8. The reorganization-plan changes are backed by GM and the committee representing Delphi's unsecured creditors, but Delphi said the committee representing shareholders said it won't support a new reorganization plan that cuts their recovery.