General Motors Co. says it will sell all of its shares of a certain type in Ally Financial Inc., its former finance arm, for $1 billion. The shares to be sold represent all of Ally’s Series A preferred stock outstanding, the automaker said Tuesday.

GM received nearly $50 billion in government bailout aid and emerged from bankruptcy protection in July 2009. It said the sale of Ally shares is another step in its strategy to bolster its balance sheet. The sale is expected to bring a $300 million gain for GM for the first quarter and reduce its stake in Ally to 9.9 percent, the company said.

Ally received $17.2 billion in bailout aid.

The sale was underwritten by Credit Suisse, BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and Barclays Capital.