General Motors Co. shares gained 7 percent this morning in a return to the market for the top U.S. automaker, according to Reuters.

The return comes less than a year and a half after the company emerged from a government-funded bankruptcy.

Shares opened at $35, above the initial public offering (IPO) price of $33, and rose as high as $35.99 in early trading.

The start of trading in GM shares represents the last step in a blockbuster initial public offering negotiated by President Barack Obama’s administration that raised $20.1 billion.

The IPO caps the first stage of a turnaround that has taken the 102-year-old automaker from near-death in 2008.

“This is a bit better than people had been projecting. As to a year ago, it’s not even in the same ballpark,” Ron Bloom, the U.S. Treasury official in charge of the GM investment, said in an interview with Reuters.