FAIRFIELD, CT—GE has agreed to sell the bulk of its GE Capital Real Estate platform to the Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo in a deal worth about $23 billion. Part of an accelerated strategy to exit the financial services business over the next 24 months, the divestiture will also include deals with other buyers for an additional $4 billion worth of real estate holdings.
“The future of GE is as an industrial company,” CEO Jeffrey Immelt said on an investors call Friday morning. Noting that “this is an excellent time to sell financial assets, Immelt said his company would focus on “core verticals and markets that GE knows best.”
With the $26.5-billion sale of commercial property and real estate to Blackstone, Wells and other buyers, half of 2015's target for selling off GE's financial platform will be met, Immelt said Friday. The sale does not include verticals that relate to GE's industrial businesses, about $90 billion worth globally.
GlobeSt.com will provide an update on the sale later this morning.
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
