US to sell 30 million shares of GM stock

Associated Press

DETROIT

The U.S. government plans to sell an additional 30 million shares of General Motors stock in a public offering today as it speeds up efforts to divest itself of a stake in the auto giant that it got in a bailout four years ago.

The Treasury Department will set the price for the shares after the markets close today, with the sale taking place shortly thereafter. A United Auto Workers retiree health care trust fund will join the sale and sell 20 million shares, pushing the size of the offering to 50 million shares.

General Motors Co. stock fell 76 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $34.20 in Wednesday afternoon trading, but it has seen huge growth recently. The stock hit $35.49 Tuesday, the highest point since December 2010, according to FactSet. Shares are up about 19 percent since the beginning of the year.

The public offering will help accelerate the government’s exit from owning GM stock, which it got in exchange for a $49.5 billion bailout in 2008 and 2009. Late last year, the government still owned 500 million shares of the automaker, but GM bought 200 million shares for $5.5 billion in December, and the Treasury pledged to gradually sell its remaining stake by early next year.