Demand for General Motors stock should be good once it decides to offer shares to the public

GM CEO expects good demand when co. sells shares

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Demand for General Motors Co. stock should be good once the company decides to offer its shares to the public, CEO Ed Whitacre said Thursday.

The company, he said, is moving as fast as it can to offer shares for sale, but Whitacre would not comment on the timing other than to say as soon as possible.

Some experts had expected GM to sell only a partial stake to the public initially, but Whitacre on Thursday said “our anticipation is we’d roll it out there all at once.”

GM spokesmen later said the decision on both when and how much equity to sell will be made by current stockholders, the U.S. and Canadian governments, a United Auto Workers health care trust and former bondholders.

The U.S. government got 61 percent of GM in exchange for giving the company about $50 billion in aid as it went through bankruptcy protection last year. GM has repaid $6.7 billion of the money, and the balance was converted to the ownership stake in the automaker.

GM is anxious to get out from under government ownership to improve the company’s perception with the public, and its sales, Whitacre told reporters at an automotive industry conference.

“We want the government out. Period. We don’t want to be known as government motors,” he said in Traverse City, Mich.

Whitacre said the time likely will be right after GM announces its second-quarter earnings next week. He said the results will be impressive. GM reported net income $865 million in the first quarter, its first quarterly profit since 2007.

“You’d have to say our future is pretty bright,” he said.

Whitacre denied that GM is under pressure from the Obama administration to sell the shares before the November congressional elections. Obama appeared at two Detroit factories last week and in Chicago Thursday to tout the success of the unpopular auto industry bailout. Democrats could use a successful stock offering as proof that the billions in federal aid worked.

“We’re trying to not tie it to any elections or anything like that, truly,” Whitacre said Thursday. “We just want it to be right.”

He said the stock sale’s paperwork is being drafted but would not say when it will be filed with U.S. regulators.

Last week United Auto Workers President Bob King said that GM will file the paperwork in mid-August. The union later said King was basing his statement on media accounts.

Whitacre also said Thursday that the automaker is looking to start up an idled factory to meet higher demand for its products, but he gave no specifics. The company has placed on “standby” two closed factories in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Janesville, Wis.

GM, he said, will have a U.S. dealership network of around 4,500, about 25 percent smaller than it was in early 2009 before the company entered bankruptcy protection.