GM IPO Timed to Complete Just Before the November Elections

It will be a wonder if the stock market remains favorable to an IPO of this size by October.

ABC News
GM IPO Filing Delayed Until Early Next Week
By Soyoung Kim
August 13, 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors Co has delayed its IPO filing until early next week as it updates its prospectus with the recent CEO change and a management risk factor, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was originally scheduled for Friday, sources said previously.

GM Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said on Thursday he would step down and Dan Akerson would take over, effective in September.

The source who said the filing had been delayed declined to be named because preparations for the IPO are not public.

GM's several-hundred-page prospectus will not provide the number of shares to be sold or the pricing range. It will cite the company's bankruptcy, steps completed in restructuring, financial projections, details of ownership, and a large set of risk factors, sources have said.

GM is now adding a new risk factor regarding the departure of Whitacre and increased uncertainty about the automaker's long-term leadership and the change is expected to take more than a day, the source said.

By filing initial paperwork with the SEC next week, GM is aiming to complete its IPO between late October and the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, another source familiar with the matter said.

A successful GM IPO, which could be the largest ever for the U.S. market, would hand the Obama administration an important political win against critics of its controversial $50 billion bailout of the top U.S. automaker, analysts have said.

The automaker secured a $5 billion credit facility this week, two sources briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, clearing the last remaining hurdle toward an initial public offering of stock expected to make the U.S. government a minority shareholder.

Ten major banks have signed on to the $5 billion credit facility, committing up to $500 million each, but the individual commitments would be cut as GM adds more banks in other countries and emerging markets as part of its efforts to attract global investors, sources said...

KKR Cancels Their Secondary Stock Offering of $500 Million As Earnings Drop 92%

"Market conditions" says Bloomberg TV. And a freshly announced 92% drop in earnings year over year that the company announced after the bell did not help.

The decline in profits was related to "one time issuance of equity awards from its stock issuance" most likely related to their recent IPO on July 15.

I'll try to keep a straight face. I'm sorry. Who is their CFO, Bernie Madoff? What they hell are they doing with a secondary offering less than a month after the IPO, and having given away most of their earnings in employee bonuses! Are they nuts? Do these jokers have a business plan, or do they just make it up as they go along?

The pulling of a big high profile secondary like this is a sign that the underwriters looked behind the curtain of market depth and volume and said, Yech! There is no way this beast will fly and we are not going to eat the excess shares and risk a failed offering. We're technically insolvent ourselves!

Aug. 5: KKR Rises As Citi Says BUY to $14 Target

Maybe Wall Street really needs those wealthy welfare tax cuts if bonuses are going to be limited to only 92% of earnings, and the shareholding public will not agree to foot the bill in the free market by taking on new shares just a few weeks after the IPO.

Spin that, you gravy sucking Wall Street pigs.

WSJ
KKR Drops Plans for Stock Offering
By PETER LATTMAN
AUGUST 9, 2010, 5:38 P.M. ET.

KKR & Co. said it dropped plans to raise $500 million in a stock offering, a setback for the firm as it begins life as a company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

In reporting earnings for the first time as an NYSE-listed firm, KKR said late Monday that it earned $29.9 million, compared with $365.8 million during the same period of 2009. That 92% drop, in part, reflects the cost of the one-time issuance of equity awards relating to its stock issuance. (The shareholders should revolt and throw out management - Jesse)

KKR's core private-equity business performed well. Holdings on its balance sheet, which include Texas utility Energy Future Holdings Inc., were marked 6% higher in the three months through June. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index dropped 12% for the quarter.

Last month, KKR moved its listing to the NYSE from the Euronext exchange to provide its stock with more liquidity and a broader investor base. In May, it announced that as part of its U.S. listing it would raise $500 million to fund the firm's growth and potential acquisitions. KKR has since squelched the offering...