The U.S. Treasury sold 22 million GM shares and wants to offload another 30 million shares of GM common stock in a 50-million-share offering that also includes a sale by the UAW union’s GM retiree health-care trust, the second-biggest shareholder behind the U.S. government with 160.2 million shares.
The government’s announcement comes on the eve of GM’s return to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after a four-year absence.
The Treasury, which owned 500.1 million shares in December, now owns just 219.2 million shares as of June 5 – down from 241.7 million at the end of May. The sale will leave the U.S. Treasury with 13.8 percent stake, down from the 60.8 percent it received as part of its $49.5 billion GM bailout. The U.S. Treasury said in December that it would sell its remaining GM stake in 12 to 15 months.
The U.S. invested $49.5 billion in GM, which became the biggest bailout and generated the labeling of GM as “Government Motors” by critics. In total, the federal government spent $80 billion to bail out the auto industry, including more than $63 billion on GM and Chrysler. The effort will cost taxpayers $20.3 billion, according to an estimate from the Treasury on March 31.
U.S. auto sales are on track for the best year since 2007, with GM, Ford and Chrysler all gaining market share in the January-May period, the first time that has happened in at least 18 years.
By Dan Mihalascu
Story References: Bloomberg via DetNews
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