Last year, GE Capital spun off its consumer credit card unit into a new company called Synchrony Financial. That company continues to operate a financial facility in Kettering that employs more than 1,600 people.
A Synchrony Financial spokesman told the Dayton Daily News the GE announcement has no impact on the site located in the Kettering Business Park on Wilmington Avenue.
“This does not impact our plans for separation from GE and is business as usual for us. You may recall that in July 2014 we conducted an IPO of Synchrony Financial, which was an important step in our planned separation from GE,” said Carlos Campos, a spokesman for Synchrony.
Shares of GE climbed to their highest price in almost two years Friday after the company announced the buybacks and the return to a simpler focus that investors have favored.
In addition to the GE Capital sale, the company will sell most of its GE Capital Real Estate to funds managed by the investment firm Blackstone. Wells Fargo will buy a portion of the loans at closing. The company plans to sell additional commercial real estate assets that will bring the total value of the deals to around $26.5 billion.
The once broadly diverse conglomerate has been steadily shedding businesses as it focuses more on building industrial machines like aircraft engines and medical imaging equipment and selling big, complex products like power generators and oil and gas equipment.
An extended run of low-interest rates has made GE’s latest divestiture more feasible for the company.
“We see a very attractive market for selling our assets,” GE Capital Chairman and CEO Keith Sherin told investors during a conference call. “Bottom line, we think the timing’s right to execute this strategic shift.”
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