Chinese Corporation May Buy Portion of General Motors

09-28-2010 • Bloomberg.com

The automakers, which have made cars together in China for more than a decade, said in December they would also sell low- cost vehicles in India. GM filed for an IPO in August as the U.S. government seeks to pare the 61 percent stake it gained in the company through its bankruptcy and $50 billion taxpayer bailout last year. “Politics and government relationship aside, it makes perfect sense,” said Bill Russo, Beijing-based senior adviser at Booz & Co. “Why can’t there be a China-America alliance? Fear of China is the only reason.” GM’s initial public offering will be open to overseas investors, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement on its website. Retail and institutional investors will be offered shares, and the Treasury “will not involve itself in decisions regarding allocation of shares to specific buyers,” the department said. GM “cannot comment on speculation surrounding a public offering,” Shanghai-based spokesman Mike Albano said in an e-mailed statement on Sept. 18.