Yesterday U.K.Reuters reported on the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of General Motors stock by the Treasury Department. The plan is to sell the IPO below cost in order to entice buyers.
The article reports:
"Subsequent offerings of the government's holdings may be profitable depending on how investors trade the newly listed stock, the sources said."
The article points out that it may be years before the accounting is over and taxpayers know if they will get their money back. The decision to price the initial offering below cost follows the usual Wall Street practice of giving a discount to the first investors in a new stock.
The stock is scheduled to be sold beginning on November 18th, beginning its sales campaign right after the November elections.
According to the article:
"The U.S. government pumped $49.5 billion worth of taxpayer money into the automaker and took nearly 61 percent of its common stock.
"GM has paid back $6.7 billion in debt to the Treasury and returned another $700 million in interest and dividends. The U.S. government also holds $2.1 billion in perpetual preferred shares in the automaker.
"That leaves the government with a roughly $40 billion investment in the GM common stock that will debut in an IPO along with a new class of preferred shares that will convert into common shares under a mandatory provision."
The auto company still needs to address a pension shortfall estimated at about $26 billion.
I hope that the taxpayers get paid back, but I also hope that the money received is used to pay down the deficit--not to increase spending.
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