General Motors Co. filed for an initial public offering that may be the second-largest American IPO in history and reduce the U.S. to a minority investor.
GM, 61% owned by the government, didn't disclose the number of shares that will be offered or the price range in a statement filed Wednesday with the SEC. The automaker will not sell any common shares itself while offering preferred shares alongside the IPO, the filing showed.
The U.S. Treasury will sell some of the common shares it owns in GM, according to the filing. The aim of the offering is to sell one-fifth of Treasury's 304 million shares, people familiar with the IPO said in June, cutting the government's stake to less than 50%.
GM may seek to raise as much as $16 billion in the IPO, a person familiar with the plans said last week, making it the second-largest in U.S. history behind Visa Inc.'s $19.7 billion deal in March 2008. Outgoing CEO Ed Whitacre has pushed to end government ownership of the Detroit-based company, which received a $50 billion taxpayer bailout following its bankruptcy in June 2009.
Mr. Whitacre said last week that he would step down as CEO on Sept. 1 and as chairman at the end of the year, ceding both titles to Dan Akerson, a managing director of the Carlyle Group. Mr. Akerson has been on GM's board since July 2009 and previously served as chairman and CEO of XO Communications, Nextel Communications and General Instrument Corp.
Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup will lead the offering, the filing showed.
