GM Files IPO Registration with SEC

The moment most of the US automotive industry was waiting for has arrived, after American manufacturer GM announce yesterday it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for what is likely to become one of the biggest initial public offerings (IPO) in US history.

According to GM, common stock will be sold through this IPO, as well as Series B mandatory convertible junior preferred stock, to be issued by the carmaker. The IPO will be manged by Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, RBC Capital Markets, and UBS Investment Bank.

Unfortunately for those waiting for numbers, the carmaker did not disclose the number of shares to be offered, nor did it yet mention any price. GM warns that the registration statement has not yet become effective.

"The filing today will be a very vague filing, just stating that it intends to sell shares through an IPO to the market in the near future," David Silver, an auto industry analyst told sfgate.com.

"There seems to be a high demand for GM stock from hedge funds and large institutions, but retail investors don't want to touch the stock."

So far, word is that GM is planning to raise between $15 billion to $20 billion, making its offering second only to the one made by Visa in 2008 (which was worth $19.7 billion). The plan is to sell a fifth of the Treasury’s 304 million shares, bringing US' stake in GM below 50 percent.