Scott Olson, Getty Images
Industryweek 8621 042115 General Electric Logo Lending Unit

General Electric Could Sell Lending Unit to Wells Fargo

April 21, 2015
General Electric is in discussion with Wells Fargo about the potential sale of all or part of its lending unit, with a reported price tag of $74 billion.

General Electric is refocusing on its industrial roots, and is in talks to sell its $74 billion commercial lending unit to Wells Fargo, a person close to the matter said Monday.

GE is pursuing negotiations to sell all or part of the business to Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, with the talks also involving other bidders, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The source said the talks were in a preliminary stage and that no agreement was expected for several days.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the GE talks.

GE declined requests for comment.

The sale of the conglomerate's biggest lending operation would represent a major piece of its plan announced earlier this month to sell most of GE Capital, valued at $200 billion, over the next two years.

Wells Fargo and private-equity firm Blackstone said on April 10 that they were buying most of GE Capital's real estate assets in a $23 billion deal.

On Friday, GE reported a $13.6 billion first-quarter loss as it took hefty charges on its plan to pare down GE Capital, part of an overhaul directed by chief executive Jeff Immelt to emphasize the company's industrial and technological prowess.

But profits rose in four of its seven industrial businesses and the company said it was on track to meet its full-year earnings forecast.

Shares in Dow member GE fell 0.8 percent Monday to finish at $27.02 on the New York Stock Exchange, amid a strong market rally that pushed the 30-company index up 1.2 percent.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics Guidebook for Engineers

Sept. 27, 2023
Leverage Domain Expertise to Drive Optimization – Without Needing a Data Scientist.

Gain a competitive edge with real-world lessons on private 5G networks

Nov. 16, 2023
The use of private networks in manufacturing applications is rapidly growing. In this paper, we present valuable insights and lessons learned from the field with the goal of enhancing...

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!