Workers on the line at the GM Canada assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
General Motors Co. will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange after its initial public offering, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
The IPO, intended to repay a portion of the automaker's government bailout, has been dubbed "Project Dawn," the source said.
The source declined to be named because preparations for the IPO remain private.
The number of shares to be sold by the U.S. government, the governments of Canada and Ontario, the United Auto Workers union health care trust and other shareholders has not been determined, the source said.
Sources previously told Reuters the IPO could raise as much as $20-billion, making it one of the biggest IPOs ever.
The U.S. Treasury plans to sell about 20 per cent of the 304 million GM shares it holds, reducing its stake in the top U.S. auto maker to below 50 per cent, sources have said.
GM is not expected to issue new common stock in the IPO but plans to sell about $3-billion in mandatory convertible securities that convert into shares in the future, a person familiar with the plan previously told Reuters.
The source on Wednesday confirmed that was still the case and that the mandatory convertible securities will be the only new shares issued in the IPO.
Mandatory convertibles, which offer regular interest or dividend payments to investors before turning into stock, could attract dividend and growth fund investors.
The source said proceeds from the convertible securities would be used for general corporate purposes.
The U.S. government currently owns almost 61 per cent of GM after it stepped in with a $50-billion bailout last year. A successful GM IPO could bolster the Obama administration's case that the bailout was a justified use of taxpayer dollars.
GM's expected stock market debut, some time between late October and the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November, means the automaker's first trades will come right around the time of U.S. midterm congressional elections.
Government officials and GM executives have repeatedly denied any link with the elections.
The initial S-1 filing that will kick off GM's IPO process has not yet been made with U.S. securities regulators.
A source on Wednesday told Reuters that the U.S. Treasury had not yet signed off on the filing. The filing is now expected Wednesday, two people said.
GM spokesman Randy Arickx declined to comment. Treasury spokesman Mark Paustenbach declined to comment.