General Electric Co. is considering selling or spinning off its GE Appliances division, which has been synonymous with the company for a century.
Fairfield-based GE would receive at least $5 billion in a sale of the unit, according to a Wall Street Journal report that did not identify its sources, giving it cash to invest in faster-growth businesses.
Based in Louisville, Ky., GE Appliances had $7.2 billion in revenue last year selling 660 million refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens, laundry machines and other items. The company recently launched the GE Café brand of stainless-steel kitchen appliances it trumpets as reflecting modern design tastes.
With the economy cooling, GE recently announced it would cut refrigerator manufacturing jobs from a GE Appliances facility in Bloomington, Ind. At last count, GE Appliances had 13,000 employees.
“For more than 100 years, (GE Appliances) has been one of the icons associated with GE in the United States,” said Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, in a written statement. “However, it remains primarily a U.S. business, meaning its fortunes are tied to the rise and fall of a single market. We want to make this good business great again by finding the right strategic solution ”“ a solution that will give Appliances the global reach and investment required to compete more effectively.”
GE has retained Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to handle any auction, the report indicated.
In separate news, Mesa Power L.L.P. is ordering 667 wind turbines from GE, the largest such order in history. Backed by energy investor T. Boone Pickens, Mesa Power plans to build the world”™s largest wind farm in Pampa, Texas, in the state”™s northern panhandle. The order is expected to supply power intermittently for the equivalent of up to 300,000 homes, with the first phase of the project costing $2 billion.
Â
