GM Seen Pricing IPO Above $30 a Share: Sources

Underwriters of GM’s hotly-anticipated IPO are expected to raise the deal’s suggested price to a minimum of $30 a share, and may do so as early as today, according to people familiar with the matter.

GM, which is expected to sell at least 365 million shares to the public in a deal set to price Wednesday evening, originally said it would likely price those shares at between $26 and $29 apiece.

A higher per share price reflects robust investor demand for the restructured U.S. automaker and would cut the expected losses for the U.S. Treasury in the first tranche of the stock sale.

But after ten days of investor presentations and a growing sense of optimism about the offering, IPO underwriters are now revising that price range upward, the people familiar with the matter say. A revised price range could be published in a regulatory filing as early as today.

Another way to meet investor demand, these people say, would be to increase the number of shares being sold to the public. It is unclear whether or not the underwriters plan to do so.

China's SAIC Motor is set to take at least a 1 percent stake in GM as part of the IPO, one source said.

While other automakers have expressed interest in taking a stake in GM's IPO, SAIC will be the only automaker to buy into the offering, that source said.