China's leading automaker SAIC Motor Corp has agreed in principle to buy a minority stake in General Motors at the US auto giant's initial public offering, state media reported Monday.

SAIC, which has two vehicle production joint ventures with GM in China, may buy about one percent of GM for around 500 million dollars, the China Securities Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

SAIC president Chen Hong left for the United states last week to finalise details of the deal, the report said.

Officials with Shanghai-based SAIC were not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.

The US auto giant said earlier this month it had become the first international carmaker to sell two million vehicles in a year in China, now the world's largest auto market.

GM hopes the listing will allow it to break from government ownership, after it was forced into a state-backed bankruptcy reorganisation in June 2009.

GM has said it wants to raise 13 billion dollars from the IPO, one of the largest in US history.

The offering will consist of 365 million shares of common stock, with an estimated price range of 26 dollars to 29 dollars per share. GM will also issue 60 million preferred shares at 50 dollars per share.

Last week, GM posted a two-billion-dollar third quarter profit after years of painful cuts, a major revamp of its product portfolio and a slow-but-steady recovery by the auto industry from the worst downturn in decades.