In Brief

DETROIT

General Motors takes step toward public stock offering

General Motors Co. on Wednesday filed the first batch of paperwork required to sell stock to the public, a step that brings the automaker closer to its goal of shedding government ownership.

The 700-page filing, submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, laid out GM's business plan and the risks facing investors thinking of buying shares in the revamped company. But the document was thin on details about the stock sale itself.

GM didn't say how many shares would be sold, at what price, or when, although experts say the initial public offering could come as early as October. It also didn't say how many shares GM's majority owner, the U.S. government, plans to unload.

However, GM did say that its stakeholders initially will sell common stock, while GM will sell preferred shares.

The IPO would have to bring in $70 billion just to pay back all of the automaker's stakeholders. That kind of money would make it the largest U.S. IPO ever.

The U.S. government now owns about 61 percent of the company, which it got in exchange for giving GM $50 billion in survival aid last year.

Western Alliance slates secondary stock offering

Western Alliance Bancorporation, the holding company for Bank of Nevada and other banks in Arizona and California, on Wednesday said it plans to sell additional shares through a secondary stock offering underwritten by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

The bank holding company intends to sell 7 million shares and notes that shares recently traded for $6.95, which would generate about $49 million in new capital.

The proceeds will be used to add capital at its banks and for general corporate purposes.

Blackstone Group plans to
buy General Growth shares

General Growth Properties Inc., which owns major shopping malls in Las Vegas, says asset manager Blackstone Group has agreed to invest about $500 million for shares in the shopping mall operator once it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

General Growth disclosed the agreement in a regulatory filing on Wednesday detailing the company's latest plan to exit bankruptcy.

An investor group led by Canadian property manager Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has agreed to provide up to $8.5 billion in capital to finance the proposed restructuring plan. It calls for the Chicago-based company to emerge from bankruptcy protection this fall.

In Las Vegas, General Growth owns the Boulevard, Meadows and Fashion Show malls, Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian and the Shoppes at Palazzo. General Growth also owns The Howard Hughes Corp., which is developing Summerlin.

County narrows professions
that require work cards

Clark County commissioners approved rule changes Wednesday that narrow the professions that require work cards and make it tougher for authorities to revoke the cards.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada hailed the revisions.

"It's a substantial first step that resolves the problems we had been working on for a decade," said Maggie McLetchie, an ACLU attorney.

Thirteen professions were scratched from the list of those needing work cards, in part because they already require background checks.

They are: ice cream truck drivers, mobile food vendors, psychic arts practitioners, temporary merchants, locksmiths, burglar alarm installers, second-hand dealers, pawnbrokers, massage establishments, unit brokers, theater managers, vacation certificate businesses and telephone solicitors.

Also, people now must be convicted of crimes, rather than just arrested, before their cards are revoked, with few exceptions.