(July 6 – 09:50 ET) – The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is planning one of the biggest secondary offerings ever in the U.S.
Goldman, arguably the world’s premier brokerage, has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a secondary offering of 40 million shares of common stock. At current prices the deal is worth about US$3.8 billion, although the price is expected to slide on the news.
The offering will allow a couple of the firm’s institutional investors and former partners to cash out. The deal will include 12.6 million shares owned by Sumitomo Bank Capital Markets, Inc., 11 million shares owned by Kamehameha Activities Association and 16.4 million shares held by former partners, including up to 4 million shares held by now-retired partners.
Goldman, which went public last year, says the deal will address three important objectives: an increased public float, broader ownership of the firm’s common stock, and the orderly entry of shares into the market. After its IPO only about 17% of its shares went into public hands, this deal will boost that to about 25%.
-IE Staff