GE Will Shed Its Advanced Materials Unit
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
General Electric Co. is selling the bulk of its advanced materials unit to private-equity firm Apollo Management LP in a $3.8 billion deal, part of GE’s larger effort to shed slow-growth businesses.
GE, which is retaining a 10% ownership stake in the unit, will reap about $2 billion in net proceeds from sale and also will hold $400 million of notes.
Company spokesman Russell Wilkerson said the money will be used for growth initiatives — primarily research and development and new product launches — within GE’s industrial division, which had encompassed advanced materials.
Mr. Wilkerson downplayed prospects for the money to be used to fund new acquisitions. The advanced materials unit manufactures silicones and quartz.
The unit has about $2.5 billion in annual sales.
