ACME, Mich. — General Motors chief executive Ed Whit acre said Thursday that while an initial-public-offering filing isn’t likely in the next few weeks, he is eager for the government to sell its shares to investors.
GM, the largest U.S. automaker, is preparing to file a registration statement for an IPO this month so the stock sale could be held by November, people familiar with the matter have said. When asked whether he expects a filing within a couple of weeks, he replied: “No, I don’t.” Whitacre said it could be the biggest IPO ever.
The automaker is 61 percent owned by the federal government, which would sell a fifth of its stake in the initial offering and reduce its ownership to less than half, people said. Cutting or eliminating the government’s stake will help with employee morale and sales, Whitacre said.
“We don’t like this label of Government Motors,” he said in a question-and-answer session after his speech, which closed a four-day automotive conference in Acme, Mich. “We know it turns off customers. It turns us off.”
