US Treasury Begins Second Divestiture Plan Of Ally Stock
Ally Financial, the lending artist formerly known as GMAC Financial, inches closer to freedom from government ownership as the United States Treasury begins a second trading plan to shed its shares.
Automotive News reports the plan would allow the U.S. Treasury “to continue exiting the investment in a manner that balances speed of exit with maximizing the taxpayer’s return,” according to CFO Charmian Uy.
The first plan saw the Treasury sell 8.9 million shares for $218.7 million in ROI for taxpayers, adding to the $18 billion recovered since the department first took majority ownership at the beginning of the Great Recession six years ago.
At the time, $17.2 billion was given to the floundering lender via the Troubled Asset Relief Program to prevent falling into the same abyss that took Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and a number of small banks, giving the Treasury 74 percent of the shares then available. Currently, it holds just 13.8 percent — or 66.2 million shares — of Ally common stock, all of which may be sold by the end of 2014.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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How much has the Dow Jones risen since 2008? It has tripled. "Printing" money has caused this. Lots of money sloshing around trying to find an asset. How much is Ally really worth, say in a few years? But, how good are these assets? Are they worth the paper they are printed on? Who will eventually be left holding the debt when the "asset" prices slide? The future is interesting indeed.
You fail to remind us that Ally's major owner besides the US government is Cerberus, you know, the group that bought Chrysler Corp, and was allowed to keep Chrysler Financial through the bankruptcy of Chrysler. Cerberus was able to sell Chrysler Financial for $7 billion, same as it bought Chrysler for, and get off the hook for the money owed the US taxpayers for the Chrysler bailout. The US government again is protecting Cerberus's investments by babysitting Ally on the taxpayer dime.
My sister's name is Ally, and seeing her name in purple always makes me annoyed that it's a bank name.