GE GE Aerospace

By Thomas Gryta and Dana Mattioli 

General Electric Co. said it agreed to sell its Current lighting division to private-equity firm American Industrial Partners for an undisclosed amount, as the conglomerate continues to separate from a business that is central to its historical roots.

The Current business, which sells LED lighting for commercial use, had about $1 billion in sales in 2017.

General Electric is still trying to sell the rest of its consumer-lighting business, which includes lightbulbs, according to people familiar with the matter.

American Industrial Partners is a middle-market private-equity firm. The firm currently has investments in bulk freight shipping company Rand Logistics, Vertex Aerospace and Gerber Technology.

Under the deal, which is expected to close in early 2019, Current would continue using the GE brand under a licensing agreement, GE said.

"[AIP's] deep expertise in operations and engineering, combined with its highly successful track record of industrial business investments, would help us accelerate Current's growth," Maryrose Sylvester, President & CEO of Current, said in a statement.

General Electric's sale attracted a number of private-equity firms as well as foreign buyers, according to people familiar with the matter. The company sold its overseas lighting business earlier this year.

The struggling conglomerate has been trying to sell its lighting business for years, beginning under former CEO Jeff Immelt. While the lighting business is iconic for GE -- which was co-founded by Thomas Edison -- the products have become commoditized and profit margins are thin.

GE has been evaluating sales and spinoffs as the company looks to shore up cash. Last week, the company cut its dividend for the second time in a year and revealed that federal prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation into its accounting.

In recent years, GE has been selling the last of its consumer businesses. In 2016, it agreed to sell its appliances business to China's Haier Group for $5.4 billion. GE gave the Chinese buyer the right to continue to use its brand on stoves, refrigerators and other appliances for several decades. Thousands of workers and a sprawling factory complex in Louisville, Ky., were transferred in the deal.

Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com and Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2018 08:06 ET (13:06 GMT)

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