Filed under: General Electric, Mergers & Acquisitions, Consumer Goods, Home & Garden
General Electric (GE) is in talks to sell its century-old household appliances business for as much as $2.5 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
GE's appliances and lighting unit reported revenue of more than $8 billion in 2013. The appliances business may fetch $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in a sale, Bloomberg quoted the people as saying.
GE was waiting to wrap up its acquisition of Alstom's energy assets before pursuing options, including an outright sale, for its appliances business, Bloomberg reported, citing one of the people.
With the Alstom deal signed, GE is talking to bidders for its appliances business, Bloomberg quoted the people as saying.
GE spokesman Seth Martin declined to comment.
The business sells home appliances under the GE Monogram, GE Cafe and Hotpoint brands.
The move is part of GE's strategy of divesting businesses and restructuring itself to boost its valuation to be in line with its peers.
The company has outlined plans to divest $4 billion worth of industrial businesses this year to focus its portfolio on businesses with high returns.
GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt attempted to sell off the home appliance unit in 2008, hiring Goldman Sachs (GS) to explore options. Immelt said at the time that the division was too tied to the tumultuous U.S. market and needed to be more globally focused, Bloomberg reported.
GE's shares were up 1.7 percent at $27.06 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.