IPO for GM Delayed until Next Week

General Motors has postponed its public-stock-offer filing until sometime next week as it revises its prospectus for Thursday’s news of its switch in CEOs, a source close to the matter reported today.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing was originally set for today, sources reported previously.

CEO of GM, Ed Whitacre, 68, announced on Thursday that he would resign, and Dan Akerson, 61, would assume control effective September 1. Whitacre will stay chairman of GM’s board until the end of 2010 and then Akerson will assume that position as well.

The source who reported the delayed filing would not be named because the IPO preparations are not public.

Corporations planning to sell stock on a public exchange must complete a rigorous approval process with the SEC. The prospectus filing is the first step in the process, and it can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.

General Motors’ several-hundred-page prospectus will not disclose the number of shares that will be sold or their price range. It will discuss the automaker’s bankruptcy, restricting steps, financial forecasts, specifics of ownership, and a comprehensive set of risk factors, sources say.

GM is now including a new risk factor concerning the resignation of Whitacre and heightened uncertainty about the carmaker’s long-term leadership, and the revisions are expected to require more than a day, according to the source.

Another source close to the matter claimed any pricing decision was unlikely to be made until very near GM’s IPO date in the fourth quarter as the carmaker and its stakeholders evaluate market conditions and probable demand.

GM has obtained a $5-billion credit facility, two sources reported to Reuters on Wednesday, surmounting the final remaining hurdle in an IPO of stock anticipated to make the United States government a minority shareholder.

Stock Plans for The Treasury

The United States Treasury, which currently owns 61 percent of GM after its massive bailout of the company, is contemplating selling its stake in GM in multiple pieces over the next few years, a source said.

The Treasury will put part of its stake up for sale in the IPO scheduled for the fourth quarter and is predicted to sell of the rest of its stake through multiple “follow-on” stock sales beginning in 2011, according to the source.

Another source reported the two- or three-year timeline for selling GM shares is one possibility but the Treasury’s pullout may go more quickly or more slowly.

GM’s IPO is expected to be the largest in the U.S. since Visa’s $19.7 billion IPO in March 2008.