U.S. Treasury Files Trading Plan To Sell GM Shares

The U.S. Department of Treasury on Friday filed a written trading plan to sell its 300.1 million GM shares, thereby moving one step closer to exiting its ownership in General Motors. The Treasury, which currently owns 19 percent of the automaker, did not release specific details about the plan, which will be implemented by JPMorgan Securities and Citigroup Global Markets.

As of this writing, the government does not plan to initiate a large sale, electing instead to sell its remaining shares in smaller increments over time, depending on market conditions. Treasury officials stated that the “manner, amount, and timing of the sales under the plan are dependent upon a number of factors.”

Friday’s filing by the Treasury, part the department’s plan to exit GM’s ownership by March 2014, comes a month after the Treasury’s announcement to sell 200 million shares of GM common stock to GM itself for $5.5 billion. The repurchase price for the transaction was set to $27.50 per share, or a 7.9 percent ($2) premium over the stock’s closing price on December 18th.