General Electric Co. has agreed to sell the consumer-lending business of GE Capital in Australia and New Zealand to an investor group. This investor group includes KKR & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG—and the estimated price is about $A8.2 billion or $6.26 billion U.S.

Questions:

1. Why is GE selling its banking business?
2. Why has selling off its consumer-financing arms been a trend for GE since the financial crisis?
3. How is GE stock performing in the market?
4. What is GE’s Price/Earnings Ratio and how would you interpret what it means?

Source:
Thurlow, R. (2015). Investor Group to Buy GE Capital Australia consumer-lending unit for about $6.3 billion. Marketwatch, March 15 (Retrievable online at https://secure.marketwatch.com/story/investor-group-to-buy-ge-capital-australia-consumer-lending-unit-for-about-63-billion-2015-03-15)