Markets Get Closer Look at Ally Financial IPO... Ghosts of GMAC & Treasury

Ally Financial Inc. has filed a second amendment to its S-1 filing as a mark that its IPO is likely closer rather than farther away.  The company’s stock will be listed on the NYSE under the “ALLY” stock ticker.  We still do not have any formal financial terms for this IPO.

Ally is not just about funny commercials on T.V.  The company was founded in 1919 as General Motors Acceptance Corporation and renamed Ally Financial in 2010.  Initially a provider of automotive financing services, its business has expanded to include insurance, online banking, mortgage operations and commercial finance.

Today, Ally Financial Inc. is a globally diversified, financial services firm with $174 billion in assets and operations in 37 countries providing financial products and services to 20,000 automotive dealers and their customers. Ally is also one of the largest residential mortgage companies in the United States. The company became a bank holding company on December 24, 2008, under the Bank Holding Company Act.

After peak revenues and profits for calendar 2008, the company suffered dramatic declines in 2009 then returned to profitability in 2010.  The company realized revenues of $16.2 billion and income from continuing operations of $4.9 billion in 2008.  The 2009 year witnessed a dramatic decline in revenues to $6.5 billion and a loss from continuing operations of $7.0 billion.  Revenues rebounded to $7.9 billion for 2010 accompanied by a net income of $1.026 billion.  First quarter revenues for 2011 showed a slight drop from 2010 but net income from continuing operations rose to $170 million from $151 million the prior year.

As of March 31, 2011 there were 1,330,970 shares of common stock outstanding which were held by 189 stockholders. The largest single shareholder is the U.S. Department of Treasury with 981,971 shares (73.8%).  Significant shareholders holding more than 5% of the outstanding shares include GMAC Common Equity Trust with 9.9% and affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. with 8.7%.

The Treasury Department also holds 118,750,000 of Series F-2 preferred stock and has agreed to convert 58,750,000 of those shares into common stock based on a conversion price equal to the common stock public offering price.  Further, the company has reserved 690,272 of the remaining authorized but unissued shares of common stock for issuance in connection with any future conversion of the Series F-2 preferred stock.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are acting as joint global coordinators.  Barclays Capital Inc. and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are also participating in the underwriting group.

Ally’s full amended filing is here.

Jim Berdou