GM stock offering on track for '10; Chrysler to follow
8/6/2009TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - General Motors Co. is on track to sell shares in an initial public offering as soon as 2010, before Chrysler Group LLC, the Obama Administration's auto task force said yesterday.
"I don't think Chrysler's IPO is a 2010 event. I think it is a little further off," Ron Bloom told reporters at an industry conference organized by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.
"It will be the board's judgment. But if you ask me as we sit here today, if I had to hypothesize, I would say it would be a little later," Mr. Bloom said.
Chrysler has kept a low profile since emerging from bankruptcy in June, but Mr. Bloom said the administration was satisfied the No. 3 automaker would emerge as a faster-moving competitor through its alliance with Fiat Spa.
"Chrysler is doing what you hoped they would be doing," he said. "They are going about the business of reinventing a car company. Car companies don't change overnight."
The Obama Administration guided Chrysler and GM through fast-track bankruptcies in recent months and financed their restructuring with more than $60 billion in funding.
The U.S. Treasury took a 61 percent stake in GM and has outlined a more aggressive timetable for a share sale there, while it holds an 8 percent stake in Chrysler.