Delphi Corp. said today it filed lawsuits against investors who it said prevented the troubled supplier from getting the exit financing it needed to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.

The complaints filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York allege that nine plan investors schemed to avoid their obligations of up to $2.55 billion in financing commitments.

Defendants named in the complaint are Appaloosa Management L.P., A-D Acquisition Holdings LLC, Harbinger Del-Auto Investment Company Ltd., Pardus DPH Holding LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co., Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I, Ltd., Pardus Special Opportunities Master Fund L.P. and UBS Securities LLC.

Delphi is alleging a breach of contract and fraud, and is asking the court to provide up to $2.55 billion in equity funding and to pay compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.

"We believe that the plan investors breached their obligations under the equity purchase and commitment agreement that was the financial foundation for our court-approved plan of reorganization," Delphi Vice President David Sherbin said in a statement.

"The plan investors vigorously pursued a prominent role in our restructuring, received over $60 million in fees for their commitments and positioned themselves to reap substantial profits after consummation of the plan," Sherbin said.

Delphi filed for Chapter 11 on Oct. 8, 2005 in the largest bankruptcy case in the history of the U.S. auto industry.

Appaloosa had no immediate comment on the suit, which came over a month after Delphi had said it had hired outside counsel to consider its options against Appaloosa because of the failed investment deal.

The fund, which is headed by billionaire David Tepper, had charged that Delphi with breaching its commitments when it served notice that it was pulling out of the equity investment in early April, just hours before Delphi was due to wrap up its exit financing arrangements.

In its bankruptcy court filing, Delphi said it believed that the real reason Appaloosa pulled out of the deal was that a tough market had forced it to reconsider terms to which it had already agreed.

"Delphi believes that defendants backed out of the transaction simply because they decided they did not like the economics of the deal they had agreed to and that they never intended to close if the deal was under water," the company said in its filing.

General Motors, which has been working to cap its financial exposure to its former parts subsidiary and cut its parts procurement costs, said last week it had agreed to advance Delphi $650 million to help its emergence from bankruptcy.

One concern for the Appaloosa-led investors was that Delphi could emerge from bankruptcy without enough liquidity to weather the tougher auto market, driving it back into a more costly second bankruptcy widely known as a "Chapter 22," a person familiar with the syndicate's decision making told Reuters.

GM, which is attempting to recover from a $39 billion loss in 2007, has said it has been paying a $2 billion per year penalty on parts purchases from Delphi, which it spun off in 1999.

The automaker has booked $8.3 billion in charges related to its exposure to Delphi to date.

Reuters contributed to this report