GE has agreed to sell a mortgage portfolio from its UK Home Lending business to a consortium made up of Blackstone, TPG Special Situations Partners (TSSP), and CarVal Investors.
The loans have a face value, or customer servicing balance of £3.8 billion.
The transaction is expected to close in December 2015.
As previously announced, GE is embarking on a strategy to focus on its high-value industrial businesses and is selling most GE Capital assets.
When completed, this transaction will contribute approximately US$0.4 billion of capital to the overall target of approximately US$35 billion of dividends expected to be paid to GE under this plan (subject to regulatory approval). In total, the combined sales of the UK Home Lending portfolios, including this transaction, will contribute nearly US$1 billion of capital to the target.
“This transaction represents the sale of almost all our remaining UK mortgage business, which successfully provided financing for UK home owners,” said Keith Sherin, GE Capital chairman and CEO.
“We began this year with around US$13 billion of [ending net investment] ENI and when this transaction closes, we will have approximately US$0.4 billion of ENI remaining in our UK mortgage business. This is an important step as we continue to execute on our plan to sell most of the assets of GE Capital.
“We are pleased with the progress we are making to reach and close agreements for our businesses and assets. The speed and value we have achieved is a testament to the hard work of our GE Capital teams around the world.”
