TOKYO—Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is set to enter exclusive talks to buy General Electric Co.'s Japan leasing business, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

SMFG's offer values the business at more than ¥ 550 billion ($4.5 billion), the person said.

As part of its global plan to unwind its GE Capital financing business, GE placed the Japanese business up for sale earlier this year, and several Japanese financial institutions expressed interest.

The business for sale has an asset value of about $5 billion. It comprises several divisions, including direct lending to industrial companies purchasing big-ticket equipment such as heavy machinery. It also offers vendor financing, helping manufacturers provide smaller businesses with financing.

One particularly attractive business is a fleet-management operation that helps large Japanese companies, such as trucking and logistics operations, finance and manage ownership of trucks and automobiles. The aviation business isn't included in the sale.

If completed, the acquisition of the GE business would make SMFG's leasing business, called Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing, one of the top players in Japan's leasing industry. The business is more attractive than traditional lending because of low interest rates on loans and sluggish loan demand.

SMFG, Japan's second-largest bank by revenue after Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., has already bought other assets from GE. In July, it bought GE's European private-equity financing business for about $2.2 billion.

SMFG has been an aggressive buyer both in Japan and abroad of a range of businesses. Among its high-profile deals, the bank bought Citigroup Inc.'s retail banking operations in Japan about a year ago for around ¥ 40 billion.

Earlier this month, the banking unit of SMFG took over Citibank Japan's 32 branches and about 740,000 customer accounts.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported earlier Friday that SMFG had the inside track on the GE Japan deal.

Write to Atsuko Fukase at atsuko.fukase@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 13, 2015 02:45 ET (07:45 GMT)

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