GE Receives Binding Offer from Cerberus Capital Management for Sale of Consumer Finance Business in France

  • Transaction Aligns with GE’s Strategy to Create Simpler, More Valuable Industrial Company
  • GE Capital’s Announced Sales Now Total Approximately US$177 Billion (ENI)

FAIRFIELD, Conn.--()--GE (NYSE: GE) announced today that it has received a binding offer from an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. for the potential sale of its French consumer finance business, GE Money Bank, and its operations in the French Overseas Territories (the DOMs). The sale would represent ending net investment (ENI) of approximately $4.6 billion as of the end of the first quarter of 2016, and excludes the platform’s approximately $2 billion prime mortgage portfolio which is being sold separately. The proposed transaction will be submitted to business works councils for their information and consultation. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions including regulatory and antitrust approvals and is targeted to close in the fourth quarter of 2016.

“As we continue to execute on our strategy to sell GE Capital’s businesses that aren’t linked to GE, with the remainder of these transactions primarily in Europe, we’re pleased to announce this agreement for the potential sale of GE Money Bank France and the DOMs to Cerberus,” said Keith Sherin, GE Capital chairman and CEO. “The business is well-established in consumer finance and has made a substantial contribution to GE Capital’s European operations. Cerberus has a growing profile as a European financial services investor with MCS, a debt servicing business in France, and BAWAG P.S.K., a retail bank in Austria.”

As previously announced, GE is focusing on its high-value industrial businesses and is selling most of GE Capital’s assets. GE will retain the financing verticals that relate directly to GE’s industrial businesses.

Including this transaction, and since the announcement in April, 2015, GE Capital has signed agreements for approximately US$177 billion and has closed approximately US$156 billion of those deals. GE Capital plans to sell approximately $200 billion of GE Capital businesses worldwide and expects to have largely completed the process by the end of 2016. GE Capital believes it is on track to deliver about $35 billion of dividends to GE under this plan, subject to regulatory approval.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store”, through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com

GE’s Investor Relations website at www.ge.com/investor and our corporate blog at www.gereports.com, as well as GE’s Facebook page and Twitter accounts, including @GE_Reports, contain a significant amount of information about GE, including financial and other information for investors. GE encourages investors to visit these websites from time to time, as information is updated and new information is posted.

About Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.

Cerberus is a leading private investment firm, currently managing approximately $31 billion for many of the world’s most respected investors. Cerberus directs its global investment strategies from its headquarters in New York City and its European investment offices in Holland and maintains a network of advisory offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Cerberus invests in multiple sectors, through a variety of investment strategies, in countries around the world.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements:

This document contains "forward-looking statements" – that is, statements related to future events that by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For details on the uncertainties that may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements, see ge.com/investor-relations/disclaimer-caution-concerning-forward-looking-statements as well as our annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements. This document also includes certain forward-looking projected financial information that is based on current estimates and forecasts. Actual results could differ materially.

Contacts

GE
Investors:
Matt Cribbins, +1 203-373-2424
matthewg.cribbins@ge.com
or
Media:
Ned Reynolds, +1 203-837-0699
ned.reynolds@ge.com

Contacts

GE
Investors:
Matt Cribbins, +1 203-373-2424
matthewg.cribbins@ge.com
or
Media:
Ned Reynolds, +1 203-837-0699
ned.reynolds@ge.com