General Motors took a big step away from the "Government Motors" moniker Thursday as it returned to life as a public company in North America's largest initial public offering worth US$23 billion.
The shares rose quickly above the IPO price in early trading on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges.
In New York, the shares (NYSE:GM) traded at US$35.39 and in Toronto (TSX:GMM.U) were at US$35.45 within the first hour of trading Thursday.
GM set a price of US$33 per common share on Wednesday, at the high end of a range that had already been increased once due to early investor demand for the shares.
"It is a great today for everyone with a stake in GM: employees, retirees, dealers, suppliers, taxpayers and yes, new shareholders," GM chief executive Dan Akerson told a conference call with reporters Thursday morning.
"Going public is an important milestone on our way to being a new and different and better GM."
The U.S. government, the Canadian federal and Ontario governments and other owners raised a total of US$18.2 billion by selling at the IPO price. GM raised another US$5 billion by selling 100 million preferred shares at US$50 each. Read more...
