The U.S. Treasury and General Motors Co. may choose a lead underwriter for the automaker’s initial public offering as soon as next week, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.

GM, 61 percent owned by the U.S., must decide soon on an underwriter in order to sell shares publicly by the fourth quarter, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing private information. The Treasury, which helped pay for the automaker’s restructuring last year, probably will have more say than the automaker in the selection, the people said.

CEO Ed Whitacre, appointed chairman when GM emerged from bankruptcy in July, has said the automaker may sell shares to the public as early as this year. GM needs to begin shortly to sell stock before the Nov. 2 congressional elections, said Joe Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Consulting in Short Hills, New Jersey.

“If they want to get it done in the fourth quarter, they have to start now,” he said yesterday in an interview. “This isn’t some little tech company. It’s a big story. This will be a global road show.”

Randy Arickx, a GM spokesman, said yesterday that he wasn’t aware of any imminent decision. Andrew Williams, a spokesman at the Treasury Department, didn’t return telephone calls or an e- mail request seeking comment yesterday before the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

GM and Treasury officials met with senior executives from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley this month in Washington about hiring a lead underwriter, said one of the people.