General Motors raised $15.8 billion on Wednesday by selling 478 million shares at $33 per share, at the high end of the $32-$33 proposed range. All told, the deal was 57% larger than originally proposed; the company had initially planned to offer 365 million shares at $26-$29. Excluding the overallotment, the common stock offering is the third largest ever on a US exchange behind Visa (2008; $17.8 billion) and ENEL SpA (1999; $16.5 billion). The company also raised $4.35 billion in a larger-than-expected sale of mandatory convertible preferred stock, which pays a 4.75% dividend. Overallotments on both the common and preferred deals could bring the total capital raise over $23 billion. With a 31% more shares sold than originally expected, the US Treasury's ownership falls below 30%. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch and Citi were the lead underwriters on the deal. The stock will begin trading Thursday on the NYSE under the symbol GM, and on the TSX under the symbol GMM.
