GM IPO Update: GM has orders for $60B in stock, CEO Akerson to ring bell at NYSE on Thurs.

A year after a very unpopular $50 billion bailout that left the United States Treasury Department with a 61 percent stake, General Motors has filed to sell about $10 billion worth of common stock and $3 billion of preferred shares. The offerings would make it the second-biggest U.S. IPO after Visa Inc. and one of the largest globally.

According to sources, GM’s initial public offering has already gathered $60 billion in orders, a clear sign of healthy investor interest for the massive automaker. There is also “excess demand” for the $3 billion worth of preferred shares GM plans to sell, insiders said.

For U.S. taxpayers to break even, GM needs a market value of roughly $70 billion.

CEO of GM, Dan Akerson, is expected to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, ringing in GM’s return to trading – 17 months after its absence since filing for bankruptcy production. It will trade under the “GM” stock symbol in New York and under “GMM” on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: MSNBC, Detroit News