SAIC Motor Corp. said it may invest in the initial public offering of partner General Motors Co., cementing ties between the biggest U.S. and Chinese automakers.
SAIC will consider investing in GM if “conditions are favorable,” Chairman Hu Maoyuan said in Shanghai. The company hasn’t yet made a decision whether to make the investment and is waiting for the details of the share sale, he said today.
“GM is our important strategic partner,” Hu said. “We are not clear about the details of its IPO. We will make the right decision once we know details.”
The automakers, which have made cars together in China for more than a decade, said in December they would also sell low- cost vehicles in India. GM filed for an IPO in August as the U.S. government seeks to pare the 61 percent stake it gained in the company through its bankruptcy and $50 billion taxpayer bailout last year.
“It would be a political hot potato if the already- unpopular bailout of GM was followed by a Chinese company acquiring a stake,” Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Northville, Michigan, said in a telephone interview.
GM’s initial public offering will be open to overseas investors, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement on its website. Retail and institutional investors will be offered shares, and the Treasury “will not involve itself in decisions regarding allocation of shares to specific buyers,” the department said.
