Goldman Sachs Undercuts Rivals

Goldman Sachs and the Securities and Exchange Commission In India, Goldman Sachs this year tied for the lowest bid among 17 banks vying to manage a $1.8 billion offer by state- owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., three people with knowledge of the matter said. Goldman Sachs and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. said they’d do the work for a fee equal to 0.00000001 percent of the sale proceeds -- equivalent to about 2 rupees (4 cents) each on the deal.

At the time of the pitch, Goldman Sachs and the Securities and Exchange Commission were at odds over allegations Goldman Sachs had sold mortgage-related securities designed to fail. The firm settled the suit last month for $550 million and acknowledged it made a “mistake.” A June poll showed that the firm suffered the worst reputational decline among its largest competitors, according to a global quarterly poll of 1,001 investors and analysts who are Bloomberg subscribers.

GM, 61 percent owned by the government after a $50 billion taxpayer bailout, aims to raise $12 billion to $16 billion in the IPO and plans to file the registration statement as early as today, according to people familiar with the situation. At that size, the IPO would be the second-largest in the U.S. after San what Francisco-based Visa Inc.’s $19.7 billion offering in March 2008.