General Electric sells off Australian finance unit

Investment firms Värde Partners and KKR & Co, along with Deutsche Bank, have agreed to buy General Electric’s Australia and New Zealand financial services unit in what they described as one of the region’s largest private equity deals.

GE Capital’s Australia and New Zealand Consumer Lending Business will be purchased at an enterprise value of A$8.2bn (€5.96bn).

Advisers to GE are Credit Suisse Group and Morgan Stanley. Advisers to the acquiring consortium are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Moelis & Co.