GM "Road Show" for IPO To Start After November Elections

Just the Facts:

• GM will promote its IPO in early November using a two-week road show.
• It is expected to be one of the biggest IPOs of all time.
• Media reports claim GM's IPO is expected to price on November 17 and debut on November 18.

DETROIT — General Motors will begin promoting its initial public offering immediately after the November 2 U.S. midterm congressional elections, according to media reports. The two-week "road show" will precede what is expected to be one of the biggest IPOs of all time.

"We are declining any comment on the IPO beyond the [form] S-1," wrote GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson on Thursday in response to an e-mailed query from Inside Line. The S-1 is the IPO registration form that GM filed on August 18 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Media reports that cite unnamed sources claim that GM's IPO is expected to price on November 17 and debut on November 18. But the performance of the U.S. stock market could force a change in those dates.

GM said "the number of shares to be offered and the price range have not been determined," according to the S-1 form.

The lengthy form includes some of GM's future product strategy.

"We plan to launch 19 new vehicles in GMNA [GM North America] across our four brands between 2010 and 2012, primarily in the growing car and crossover segments, where, in some cases, we are underrepresented, and an additional 27 new vehicles between 2013 and 2014," the GM filing said.

GM also said it will concentrate its design, engineering and marketing resources on fewer brands and vehicle architectures going forward. "We plan to increase the volume of vehicles produced from common global architectures to more than 50 percent of our total volumes in 2014 from less than 17 percent today," it said. It added: "[This will allow] us to maintain a steady schedule of important new product launches in the future."

Inside Line says: Expect a lot of fanfare from GM this fall as it begins to court potential investors. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent