By Lauren Pollock And Maria Armental
General Electric Co. has reached an agreement to sell its U.S.
health-care lending business and a big package of loans to Capital
One Financial Corp. for about $9 billion as part of its move to
narrow its operations.
The conglomerate had said in April that it was selling the bulk
of GE Capital, the giant finance business that had long accounted
for about half of its profit.
The deal with Capital One, which is expected to close in the
fourth quarter, includes about $8.5 billion of health-care related
loans. GE has now signed deals for about $78 billion worth of asset
sales related to its lending business and said it is on track to
meet its goal of selling $100 billion in assets by the end of the
year.
Separately, GE said it has signed an agreement with another
buyer to sell about $600 million of real estate equity
investments.
The decision to exit finance and refocus on its industrial
business is the most momentous shift of Jeff Immelt's multiyear
realignment of the company he inherited almost 14 years ago.
Write to Lauren Pollock at lauren.pollock@wsj.com and Maria
Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires