US Govt Eager To Sell GM Stock

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The U.S. government plans to sell a significant share of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. this summer despite the disappointing performance of the auto maker's stock, people familiar with the matter said.

A sale within the next several months would almost certainly mean U.S. taxpayers will take a loss on their $50 billion rescue of the Detroit auto maker in 2009.

To break even, the U.S. Treasury would need to sell its remaining stake—about 500 million shares—at $53 apiece. GM closed off 27 cents a share at $29.97 in 4 p.m. trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, hitting a new low since its $33-a-share November initial public offering.

"Planning for the sale of our remaining GM stock is still at an early stage, and the IPO lock-up does not expire until late May," a Treasury spokesperson said. "At that point, we will consider all of our options, based on our twin goals of protecting taxpayers' interests and exiting as soon as practicable."

Shares have been hurt by rising fuel prices, industry production disruptions and management turnover. At Monday's price, and taking into account shares sold during the IPO, taxpayers would lose more than $11 billion on the rescue if the government dumped the rest of its stake now.

Government officials are willing to take the loss because the Obama administration would like to sever its last ties to the auto maker, the people familiar with the matter said. A summer sale makes it more likely Treasury could sell all of its stake in GM by year's end, avoiding a potentially controversial sale in the 2012 presidential election year.

GM also would like an early exit in large part because it faces tight restrictions on executive pay as long as the U.S. government is a part owner.

GM's successful $23.1 billion IPO in November reduced the U.S. government's stake in GM to 26.5% from 61%. As a condition of the IPO, the Treasury isn't able to sell additional holdings before May 22.

At the time of the IPO, Treasury officials and banks underwriting the deal believed the price would climb through the winter, enabling the government to sell most or all of its remaining stake within weeks of the lifting of the sales restriction at a narrower loss to taxpayers, the people familiar said.

Shares have fallen by recent events that have undermined investor confidence in GM. Those include the rise in gas prices, which hurt sales of big, highly profitable trucks. Wall Street also is fretting over recent management moves such as the unexpected departure of Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell.

Investors also were spooked by GM's sales-incentive blitz in January and February, which could temper the auto maker's first-quarter earnings. GM is expected to report next month that it made money in the first quarter and generated cash from operations, people familiar with the matter said.

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