GE sells transport finance unit to BMO

American multinational conglomerate General Electric Co (GE) has decided to sell its transportation finance unit GE Capital to BMO Financial Group. This comes as part of the global major's business strategy to increase its focus on industrial segment thus strengthening the bottom line. The terms of the deal were not disclosed by the company.

With this, the total asset sale would reach $85bn as against the target for 2015 is $100bn.

After the news about the sell-off hit the market, shares of both the companies rose on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday. GE stock on the bourse rose 0.53 percent to $24.68 and Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) shares were up 0.54percent to $52.44.

The share price of GE closed lower during last one hour of trading. The market capitalization of GE stands at $247.98bn and price-to-earning (PE) ratio at 521.78.

The Bank of Montreal's market capitalization was at $44.7bn and PE ratio stands at 8.48. About 751,000 shares were traded on NYSE. GE recorded trading of 34.8mn shares.

GE Capital's transportation finance services are mostly catering to the US and Canadian markets. The transportation unit offers financing to equipment makers, dealers and end users. The company's list of customers includes end users in wholesale and commercial vehicles markets. It also provides finance to commercial trucks including heavy and medium and trailers as well.

GE Capital Chairman and Chief Executive Keith Sherin said: "With the sale of our transportation finance business to BMO, we have again found a buyer with a customer-centric culture who's committed to the industry and growing this business with the help of our tenured and experienced team."

The company's asset sale plan is going as per the plan and it's very much on track, Sherin said. GE's target for 2015 is $100bn from the sale of assets. With the selling of GE capital transportation finance unit, GE reached $85bn so far this year.

GE is focusing on its core industrial segment while offloading other business interests. The company is keen on manufacturing large and complicated equipment for the industry.

GE in last April announced its plans to sell the majority of GE Capital's assets. Assets worth $26.5bn in real estate were also part of its selling list. In April, it announced its plan to offload health care lending unit to Capital One for $9bn.

GE has also announced its considering a proposal to sell GE Asset Management division to an investment management company. GE Asset Management manages $115bn in assets as of June this year. However, there wouldn't be any change in pension benefits after any deal.