The U.S. Treasury Department said it expected to sell its remaining shares of General Motors Co by the end of the year, a plan that may leave taxpayers with a shortfall of about $10 billion on the automaker’s 2009 bailout.
Treasury on Thursday said it had completed the sale of 70.2 million shares of GM stock and to date had recouped $38.4 billion from the $49.5 billion taxpayer-funded rescue of the Detroit company.
At current prices, Treasury would recoup another $1.2 billion from its remaining stake of 31.1 million shares, bringing its total recovery to $39.6 billion. Treasury said its initial cost basis for the GM shares was $43.52 per share.
Treasury previously said it expected to exit by April 2014, but analysts had expected it to move up the final sale date.
“Our goal was never to make a profit,” said a Treasury official who requested anonymity. “It was to save the U.S. auto industry.”
U.S. auto sales through October have risen 8.4 percent, with sales expected to top 15.5 million for the full year — comfortably above the recessionary trough of 10.4 million in 2009, Reuters informs.
