By Joanne Chiu
General Electric Co. on Monday said it would sell its U.S.,
Mexico, Australia and New Zealand fleet businesses to Element
Financial Corp. for $6.9 billion, as part of a broader effort to
unload noncore assets.
GE also signed a memorandum of understanding for the potential
sale of its European fleet businesses to Arval, a fully owned unit
of BNP Paribas, before the end of the year, it added.
The acquisition would include the European unit of GE Capital
Fleet Services that includes a fleet of 160,000 vehicles in 12
countries, valued at EUR2.4 billion as of March 31.
GE Capital Fleet Services provides commercial car and truck
financing and fleet-management services.
GE is embarking a strategy to sell most assets of GE Capital;
announced sales have totaled $63 billion. "We are on track to
execute sales of $100 billion by the end of 2015 and expect to be
substantially done by the end of 2016," said GE Capital Chairman
and Chief Executive Keith Sherin.
The U.S. and Mexico transaction is expected to close in the
third quarter of 2015, while the Australia and New Zealand
transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter. If
approved, the Arval transaction is targeted to close in the fourth
quarter.
Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com
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