GE - General Electric Company
| Previous close | 11.44 |
| Open | 11.50 |
| Bid | 11.36 x 900 |
| Ask | 11.37 x 47300 |
| Day's range | 11.33 - 11.60 |
| 52-week range | 6.51 - 11.84 |
| Volume | 52,805,644 |
| Avg. volume | 51,646,196 |
| Market cap | 99B |
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 1.18 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | N/A |
| EPS (TTM) | -0.62 |
| Earnings date | 29 Jan 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 0.04 (0.35%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 2019-12-20 |
| 1y target est | 10.78 |
- Zacks
Allegheny Inks Long-term Agreement With GE Aviation
Allegheny (ATI) to supply GE Aviation production lines with the highest quality materials and components on time.
- Zacks
General Electric's (GE) GECAS Unit Divests PK AirFinance
General Electric's (GE) aviation services unit completes the divestment of PK AirFinance. This is aligned with the company's plan to divest GE Capital's assets worth $10 billion in 2019.
- Zacks
Should You Invest in the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Industrials ETF (RGI)?
Sector ETF report for RGI
- Investing.com
General Electric Stock Rises 3%
Investing.com - General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock rose by 3.37% to trade at $11.34 by 09:31 (14:31 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.
- Investing.com
Stocks - Apple, Lululemon Fall Premarket; Delta, GE Rise
Investing.com -- Stocks in focus in premarket trade on Thursday, 12th December.
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon Communications, Accenture, General Electric and American Tower
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon Communications, Accenture, General Electric and American Tower
- Zacks
The Market Timing Secrets No One Talks About - December 10, 2019
Have you ever dreamed of being that one in a million investor who has the talent to perfectly time the markets?
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 1-Offshore wind park Merkur sold to Dutch APG, Britain's TRIG
Dutch pension investor APG and Britain's Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) have agreed to buy offshore wind farm Merkur, the asset's biggest shareholder, Switzerland's Partners Group, said on Tuesday. The 396 megawatt project, located in the German North Sea, benefits from a guaranteed feed-in tariff until 2033 and has a 10-year operation and maintenance agreement with General Electric, Partners Group said in a statement. Partners Group did not disclose the value of the transaction.
- Reuters
Offshore wind park Merkur sold to Dutch APG, Britain's TRIG
Dutch pension investor APG and Britain's Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) have agreed to buy offshore wind farm Merkur, the asset's biggest shareholder, Switzerland's Partners Group , said on Tuesday. The 396 megawatt project, located in the German North Sea, benefits from a guaranteed feed-in tariff until 2033 and has a 10-year operation and maintenance agreement with General Electric , Partners Group said in a statement. Partners Group did not disclose the value of the transaction.
- Zacks
General Electric (GE) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know
General Electric (GE) closed at $10.99 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.99% move from the prior day.
- Zacks
Top Analyst Reports for Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon & Accenture
Top Analyst Reports for Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon & Accenture
- Bloomberg
U.S. Says Accused Apple Secrets Thief Had Patriot Missile File
(Bloomberg) -- When U.S. prosecutors charged an Apple Inc. engineer in January with stealing trade secrets for a Chinese startup, a search of his home turned up something else, they said: a classified file from the Patriot missile program that belonged to his ex-employer, Raytheon Co.The discovery has added a striking national security wrinkle to an otherwise routine corporate espionage case, and the government says it merits keeping Jizhong Chen under close scrutiny.The Patriot document was discovered among numerous electronic devices and paper files from Chen’s former employers including General Electric -- some of which were stamped “confidential,” according to prosecutors.Chen, a U.S. citizen who was arrested on his way to catch a flight to China, is awaiting trial on charges that he collected photos, schematics and manuals from his work on Apple’s tightly guarded self-driving car project as he prepared to take a job with an unidentified rival.He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $500,000 bail. But prosecutors argue the stash of sensitive data found in Maryland justifies subjecting him to location monitoring with an electronic device so he doesn’t disappear before his trial.Lawyers representing Chen and a second former Apple engineer facing similar charges -- who is also fighting prosecutors over the need for location monitoring -- contend the government is exaggerating the risk they’ll try to flee.The 2011 document relating to one of Raytheon’s best-known weapons was so secret that it “was not (and is not) permitted to be maintained outside of Department of Defense secured locations,” prosecutors said in an Oct. 29 filing that hasn’t previously been reported on by the media. Chen “has, for over eight years, illegally possessed classified national security materials taken from a former employer.”How a classified document ended up at an engineer’s home raises provocative questions, but they’re unlikely be answered in open court at a hearing set for Monday. A prosecutor and an attorney for Chen both declined to comment ahead of the hearing. A Raytheon spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.Read More: Tesla to Apple: Help Us Nail Robocar-Secrets Thief at China FirmAfter prosecutors first raised concerns about the evidence they found in Maryland, a magistrate judge agreed in March to extend an electronic monitoring requirement to give the government time to investigate. She finally ordered an end to the monitoring in October -- and prosecutors are now asking a district judge to overrule her.Lawyers for Chen say prosecutors have had enough time to present further evidence of criminal conduct. They also note that the federal office that supervises defendants on probation has concluded monitoring is no longer necessary because Chen has complied with all the conditions of his release and found full-time employment.Daniel Olmos represents both Chen and Zhang Xiaolang, who also worked on Apple’s autonomous driving project before he was arrested in July 2018 and accused of trying to take the company’s trade secrets to China-based XMotors. The lawyer makes an argument that goes to the heart of the cases against both men: There’s no evidence that Apple’s intellectual property was shared with a third party. That’s significant because possession of the information alone isn’t necessarily a crime.Olmos also contends that each of the engineers has strong ties in the U.S. and the trips they were about to take to China when they were arrested were planned for the purpose of visiting relatives, not escaping prosecution.“The government’s argument that Mr. Zhang poses a flight risk because he is a Chinese citizen is insufficient to warrant GPS monitoring,” Olmos said in a filing. “Mr. Zhang has full-time employment, a new family, and no travel documents.”The cases are U.S. v. Chen, 19-cr-00056, and U.S. v. Zhang, 18-cr-00312, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).To contact the reporters on this story: Peter Blumberg in San Francisco at pblumberg1@bloomberg.net;Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Anthony Lin, Peter BlumbergFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Business Wire
GE Board of Directors Authorizes Regular Quarterly Dividend
The Board of Directors of GE (NYSE: GE) today declared a $0.01 per share dividend on the outstanding common stock of the Company. The dividend is payable January 27, 2020 to shareowners of record at the close of business on December 23, 2019. The ex-dividend date is December 20, 2019.
- Business Wire
Dowty Propellers is ready for the future of propeller systems with its new production facility, repair operation and headquarters near Gloucester in Brockworth, England
Dowty Propellers today inaugurated its new facility in Brockworth, England to provide a modern operation for the company’s development, manufacture and support of state-of-the-art propeller systems with all-composite blades. Located just outside Gloucester at Brockworth’s Gloucester Business Park, this 183,000-sq. ft. building brings together Dowty Propellers’ primary resources at one site: from the full production process for its propeller systems to the company’s administrative offices, design and engineering teams, as well as the Dowty Propellers Repair and Overhaul (DPRO) center – the U.K. arm of Dowty Propellers’ global support network.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 1-Safran CEO cautious on supply chain once Boeing grounding lifted
The head of French jet engine maker Safran has voiced caution over the ability of aerospace supply chains to ramp up quickly after the return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for months following two fatal accidents. Safran co-produces the LEAP engine for the MAX through its CFM International joint venture with General Electric. Once the jet returns to service - the timing of which is in the hands of regulators - Boeing plans to reach a previously targeted production level of 57 aircraft a month by end-2020 from its current rate of 42, down from 52 before the grounding.
- Investing.com
General Electric Falls 3%
Investing.com - General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell by 3.05% to trade at $10.82 by 09:49 (14:49 GMT) on Tuesday on the NYSE exchange.
- Business Wire
GE Healthcare’s New Imaging Tech and Intelligent Apps Unveiled at #RSNA19 will Deliver Hundreds of Millions in Cost Savings and Provider Productivity
GE Healthcare today launched more than 30 new, imaging intelligent applications and smart devices designed to drive efficiency in radiology departments, aiming to double productivity and cost savings for systems by 2025. Healthcare inefficiencies lead to nearly $1 trillion of annual financial waste in the United States alone.1 Healthcare executives report costs and transparency as their number one concern moving into next year and need new solutions to help solve these challenges.2 Recognizing the opportunity to reduce waste and increase efficiency across the healthcare industry, GE Healthcare is presenting the following new intelligent applications and smart devices at the 105th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
- Bloomberg
India’s Millennial Credit Card Boom Runs Into Ambani
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- For every 100 people in India, there are only three credit cards. A comparable penetration figure for the U.S. is 320.Statistics like these suggest that India’s first initial public offering of a credit card issuer is either an opportunity with boundless prospects — or a victim of arrested development. Which is it?The upcoming sale of shares in SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. will give investors a chance to find out. Between them, the controlling shareholder, State Bank of India, and its 26% partner, Carlyle Group, plan to sell up to 130.5 million shares. Throw in a simultaneous offer of new shares, and it could be a 96 billion rupee ($1.3 billion) IPO, India’s biggest in the current financial year, according to local media reports. Business is booming at the country’s second-largest card issuer. After Carlyle arrived in 2017 to replace GE Capital in the two-decade-old venture, earnings were 7.4 rupees a share in the year through March 2018. The most recent six-monthly profit topped that figure. Younger millennials and Generation Z — those born after 2000 — are driving this growth. In India’s fiscal year ended in March 2016, barely 2% of credit card transactions were originated by people below 25 years of age. That number has jumped to 10%. Add the 26-30 age group, and the youth share of plastic is 35%, beating people over 40 by as much as eight percentage points. Yet only about 5% of Indians’ consumption per capita takes place through credit cards. After growing 12% annually over four years, average spending per card is stalling. While a slowdown is only to be expected given a sharp decline in economic momentum, the reason has more to do with the merchant than the spender.E-commerce, which is increasingly the most obvious use of a credit card, will account for barely 7% of India’s $1.2 trillion-a-year retail industry by 2021, according to Deloitte Consulting. Another 18% will go to malls, department stores and other forms of organized retail. But three-quarters of the market will remain with mom-and-pop stores. An average shop can hope to receive $775 in monthly business from cardholders. Card issuers would garner revenue of $11 of that, but the bank that acquired the merchant and fitted it up would receive just $1.50 a month. It’s simply not worth anyone’s while to expand the business into smaller towns dominated by small shops. Increasingly ubiquitous smartphones are far more suitable for payment authentication in a low-middle-income country than credit cards. Google Pay and Walmart’s PhonePe are leading people-to-people mobile payments in India, using the so-called unified payments interface, a system linking India’s banks. The same system will also drive people-to-merchant payments. Credit will just be an added layer. Banks will compete for whoever can bring them a lot of customers. India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has 355 million customers for his 4G mobile network, Jio. Unsurprisingly, the oil-to-telecom tycoon wants to connect 30 million small retailers with common inventory-management, billing and tax platforms as well as low-cost payment terminals. He won’t be alone. Even in Indian e-commerce, Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart Online Services Pvt is promoting “cardless” credit, where the financing comes from banks and nonbank lenders. During the recent local holiday sale season, three out of four Amazon.com Inc. customers who availed themselves of credit to make purchases came from Tier 2 and 3 cities, where card penetration is low; every second buyer who borrowed to buy something did so for the first time.The parent State Bank’s opportunity in unsecured retail loans will be far larger than that of its IPO-bound cards unit. India’s largest commercial bank will make its low-cost deposits available to Ambani, Walmart and other digital commerce hopefuls who might be looking to sweeten their proposition to customers with a dollop of credit. That should still leave plenty of headroom for SBI Cards to grow. Its 18% market share means the company will remain a sought-after choice for co-branded partnerships, such as with Indian Railways and ride-hailing app Ola.Carlyle’s partial exit would value the U.S. buyout firm’s 26% stake at about seven times what it paid in 2017, according to Reuters. That’s a neat pile to make from plastic in such a short time, and in a country where it hasn’t really taken off. IPO investors will be content with a lot less.To contact the author of this story: Andy Mukherjee at amukherjee@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Patrick McDowell at pmcdowell10@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services. He previously was a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He has also worked for the Straits Times, ET NOW and Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- TEST Business Wire Releases
GE Healthcare Expands Intelligent Health Ecosystem with Launch of Edison Developer Program to Ease AI Adoption for Providers
GE Healthcare launched the Edison Developer Program to accelerate the adoption and impact of AI across the health system.
- Bloomberg
GE's New CFO Lacks 'Wow' Factor and That's Fine
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- General Electric Co.’s choice for its next chief financial officer lacks a “wow” factor but checks the right boxes. The industrial giant announced on Monday that it had hired Carolina Dybeck Happe – currently the CFO at Copenhagen-based shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S – to help CEO Larry Culp carry out a turnaround that’s finally starting to yield some results. Jamie Miller announced her intention to step down as GE’s CFO in July, and the company’s been looking for a replacement ever since. Miller will officially hand over the reins to Dybeck Happe in early 2020.Dybeck Happe previously spent more than 15 years at Stockholm-based lock maker Assa Abloy AB, but she has little name recognition in the U.S. Certainly, this isn’t the kind of blockbuster hire that some investors had been hoping to see. Many had their eye on Daniel Comas, Culp’s previous right-hand man at Danaher Corp. A hire like that would have gotten more reaction out of the stock. Instead, shares of GE traded up about 1% Monday amid a broader rally. Still, amid ongoing investigations by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission into GE’s accounting practices, the value of simply announcing a hire and putting this matter to bed shouldn’t be discounted. And frankly, there is enough of a cult of personality already baked in to the current price. Most investors would tell you the stock could easily be 50% lower if it weren’t for Culp and the reputation for operational excellency he earned in his Danaher years.Culp has managed to so far avoid fresh nasty surprises in the long-term care insurance business and elsewhere at GE Capital, while the troubled power business no longer appears to be in free fall. There’s still a long way to go in this turnaround story, though. Remaining headaches for GE include a competitive market for what little demand remains for gas turbines in a world increasingly turning to renewable energy; the impact from divestitures; a fierce debate about the sustainability of its aviation unit’s free cash flow; and a continuing need to restructure, particularly in Europe where cost-cutting discussions can be notoriously difficult. Culp needs someone to help him execute on further operational changes, of course. He also could use the perspective of another outsider to continue to root out the cultural problems that led the company into this mess. Miller did a stint at insurance company WellPoint Inc., but she’s been with GE since 2008 and was likely too much of an insider to execute the kind of overhaul the company really needs. This includes finally breaking with its tendency to over-engineer its financial statements and prioritize optics over reality.There’s no reason why Dybeck Happe can’t be that person. Shares in Assa Abloy returned more than 150% to investors over the course of Dybeck Happe’s tenure as CFO there amid a spike in earnings, fueled in part by prudent cost control and in part by a steady stream of M&A. She’s only been at Moller-Maersk since January, but also sits on the board of Schneider Electric SE. Dybeck Happe’s European background could prove particularly helpful to GE on the cost-cutting dilemmas tied to its ill-fated acquisition of Alstom SA’s energy arm. And it’s nice to see a female executive replaced by another female executive for a change. Dybeck Happe was the first female CFO in Moller-Maersk’s 115-year history and was appointed there after at least one investor asked for more diversity, so her departure will be felt at the male-heavy company. Moller-Maersk’s loss may just be GE’s gain.To contact the author of this story: Brooke Sutherland at bsutherland7@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at bewilliams@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Brooke Sutherland is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
GE brings in shipper Maersk's CFO as finance chief
Carolina Dybeck Happe will start in early 2020 and replaces Jamie Miller, whose departure was announced earlier this year as new Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp seeks to simplify operations and generate cash after booking billions of dollars in losses. The company is betting on Happe's experience at Maersk, where her focus was on lowering costs, as it looks to stabilize its power business, which has long been a drag on earnings. The analysts added that while Happe does not have much experience of highly levered turnarounds, her focus while working with Culp will likely be on improving margins and cash flow.
- Business Wire
GE Names Carolina Dybeck Happe As Chief Financial Officer
GE (GE) today announced that Carolina Dybeck Happe, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of GE, effective in early 2020. After a rigorous global search process, I’m excited to welcome Carolina to GE. As CFO, Ms. Dybeck Happe will lead GE's global finance organization and financial activities including accounting and controllership, financial planning and analysis, tax, investor relations, internal audit, and treasury.
- Bloomberg
A Once-Core Business for GE and Siemens Shows New Signs of Life
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- To get Brooke Sutherland’s newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here.A once mighty engine of profit for Siemens AG and General Electric Co. isn’t dead just yet, but the business will remain a ghost of its former self. The market in question is gas turbines, equipment that sits at the heart of natural gas power plants and helps to generate electricity. A glut of capacity and the reduced cost of renewable energy tanked demand for these engines, sparking years of painful slides in profitability and massive rounds of cost-cutting. Recently, though, orders have started to perk up modestly; regions such as China are converting to gas from coal or nuclear power, while elsewhere there is a growing recognition that the flexibility and reliability of turbines gives them a role to play even in a world tilting increasingly toward alternatives. In what may be a nod to this recent improvement, Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser told Bloomberg News this week that the company may keep only a 25% stake in the struggling energy unit it plans to spin off. That would constitute a more extensive break than what was envisioned when Siemens announced the overhaul in May with the intention of retaining a “somewhat less than 50%” holding — seemingly a bet that the apparent bottoming in demand will entice more support from the public market.Indeed, Siemens saw a 9% increase in comparable orders in its gas-and-power division in the fiscal fourth quarter and said its market share in large gas turbines held roughly steady in 2019. Deutsche Bank AG analysts led by Gael de-Bray this week outlined a path for a 20% recovery in Siemens gas turbine orders to 10 gigawatts annually. The analysts acknowledge this is an out-of-consensus view, but even GE, the poster child for gas power woes, has seen business come in better than expected. Year to date, GE logged gas power orders of 12.8 GWs, compared with 7.2 GWs in the same period in 2018, Chief Financial Officer Jamie Miller said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. That adds support to CEO Larry Culp’s optimism that overall market volume may exceed GE’s dire forecast of just 25 to 30 GWs at the beginning of the year. This recent stabilization in demand is encouraging, but the question isn’t just whether companies can attract orders, but whether they can deliver them and any associated maintenance work profitably. The Deutsche Bank analysts estimate the Siemens Energy spinoff (which includes a 59% stake in Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA) can reach its goal of doubling its adjusted profit margin to about 8% by 2021, a reflection of growth in more profitable service work and targeted cost savings of 700 million euros. Progress is progress, but it should be noted that an 8% margin isn’t exactly blockbuster profitability, and that number reinforces the idea that there is a more structural shift in the power market that will keep a lid on further improvements.GE, for its part, has said fixed costs are down 9% year to date in the gas power business, although it has also pushed out some restructuring work, in part because negotiations in Europe are taking longer than expected. Its own gas-power service revenue has declined in the past three quarters. Even so, Melius Research analyst Scott Davis has argued there’s no structural reason that margins can’t return to the mid-teen levels of yesteryear. He bases this in part on the idea that Siemens, as its top competitor, cares deeply about boosting its own margins and that will help keep pricing rational. In response to that, I would point you to the other power market news making the headlines this week: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries CEO Seiji Izumisawa is leaving the door open to a combination or collaboration with Siemens’s power business once it’s carved out. Siemens had reportedly been in talks to merge the gas-turbine business with Mitsubishi before deciding to go ahead with the spinoff instead.(1) “We do have a good relationship with Siemens,” Izumisawa said in an interview at Bloomberg Headquarters this week. “I will not deny the possibility that we could possibly work with them.”Such a move would substantially shift the competitive landscape, and it’s far from clear that Mitsubishi would have the same discipline if it was in charge of the pricing for Siemens’s new units and service agreements. Asked whether market share or profitability was more important amid weak demand for turbines, Izumisawa said that the most important thing was for the business to make money and generate value for shareholders, but within that, there’s an understanding that after-market services are responsible for most of the profit in the gas turbine business. That gives the company an interest in making sure it’s delivering a consistent number of units, he said. While Izumisawa said the Siemens spinoff doesn’t directly affect Mitsubishi’s business strategy, he acknowledged competition is only getting tougher. Siemens’s Kaeser has spoken about the likelihood that China will want its own national champion to capitalize on an expected boom in gas power demand as the country converts from coal. To that end, Izumisawa touted the productivity and reliability benefits offered by Mitsubishi’s high-efficiency J-series turbines as a tool for luring customers. The company’s estimate of greater than 64% efficiency for that product exceeds the 62.2% for GE’s 9HA turbine, and Mitsubishi is working to further expand that lead with its next generation turbine, Gordon Haskett analyst John Inch wrote in a June report. Here I will remind you that GE has cut R&D at its power unit substantially over the past few years. Point being, demand may be stabilizing, but the market is only getting more competitive. LEAKING FUELSome worrying signals for the aerospace market emanated from the Dubai Air Show this week. Emirates trimmed order commitments for both Boeing Co. and Airbus SE jets, with the reductions adding up to $24 billion at list prices. Big aircraft like Boeing’s 777X are falling out of favor as weakening demand and fare competition sparks concern about airlines’ ability to fill the planes profitably. Emirates will take 126 777X jets, including six orders for older models that were upgraded to the newest version, and 30 of Boeing’s smaller 787 Dreamliners. All in, that’s 40 fewer planes than planned. The airline upped its order for Airbus’s A350 wide-body jet, but seemingly scrapped a commitment for 40 A330neos that was part of the original deal, resulting in a net loss.A bright spot was Airbus’s longer-range A321 XLR model. Boeing’s counter to that, a potential new middle-market aircraft, remains a question mark amid the continuing crisis engulfing its 737 Max. The more orders Airbus is able to rack up in the meantime, the weaker the business case for that Boeing jet. Airbus is already moving on: The manufacturer talked about developing a narrow-body jet by the end of the 2020s if key technologies are available, likely kicking off a new front in the arms race with Boeing, notes Bloomberg Intelligence’s George Ferguson. The MCAS software system blamed for the Max’s two fatal crashes was installed to make up for the fact that the existing 737 model infrastructure was less adaptable to more fuel-efficient engines. Clean-sheet development programs like the one Airbus is contemplating won’t come cheap and the fact that the planemakers’ are considering them speaks to a potentially more structural shift away from wide-bodies in the current demand environment. DEALS, ACTIVISTS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Thyssenkrupp AG’s plan to sell off its prized elevator division got more complicated this week. The company plunged the most since 2000 on Thursday after warning that a deepening cash crunch would force it to suspend dividend payments. Selling off the entire elevator business – whose exposure to the growing urbanization trend makes it a rare bright spot for Thyssenkrupp – would bring in much needed cash to fund restructuring for the remaining steel, submarines and industrial businesses. But that would also deprive Thyssenkrupp of its top source of cash flow should the turnaround plan fail to gain traction. Binding bids for the elevator unit are due in mid-January, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. Rival Kone Oyj has partnered with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for a bid and has reportedly offered a sizable breakup fee to help convince Thyssenkrupp to put aside antitrust concerns. Also in the running are a consortium of Blackstone Group Inc., Carlyle Group LP and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board; an Advent International, Cinven and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority team; Brookfield Asset Management; Asian private equity firm Hillhouse Capital, whose connection to China may also draw scrutiny; and 3G Capital, which is better known for its troubled food investments.Cobham Plc’s planned sale to Advent International advanced a step this week after the U.K. government said it was likely to accept remedies designed to address national security concerns over the $5 billion takeover of a military supplier. The deal still risks being caught in the political crossfire with a final ruling not expected to come until Dec. 17, five days after the U.K. general election. The opposition Labour Party has taken a dim view of the deal amid a spike in foreign acquirers taking advantage of the pound’s Brexit-fueled weakness. The deal has few benefits for Britain, but a block on purely protectionist grounds would set a bad precedent, as my colleague Chris Hughes has written. “If the U.K. merely rues that Cobham is worth more in U.S. hands, it should instead ask whether past industrial policy is to blame and learn the lessons,” Chris writes. Approval likely comes with some strings, though, including job commitments and potentially an agreement to keep Cobham’s headquarters in the U.K.BONUS READINGAmazon Has Become America’s CEO Factory The Inglorious End of the Airline Mile as a Unique Travel Reward Conoco's 2020s Plan Is to Embrace the FUD: Liam Denning Amtrak CEO Has a Plan for Profitability, and You Won’t Like It General Motors Declares Corporate War on Fiat: Chris Bryant Major TARP Survivor Sees Warning in Exuberant Florida Developers(1) That was likely a reflection of an unwillingness by Kaeser (who’s due to retire in 2021) to risk having another bruising fight with European antitrust regulators slow down his plans for a boosted valuation.To contact the author of this story: Brooke Sutherland at bsutherland7@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at bewilliams@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Brooke Sutherland is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 1-Emirates' Clark says Rolls-Royce needs to sort itself out after engine delays
The board of Rolls-Royce must urgently address its engine performance problems, the head of Dubai's Emirates said, as the world's largest buyer of wide-body jets weighs up who will power its order of Boeing 787 jets. Emirates agreed to buy its first 787 Dreamliners in a last-minute, $9 billion deal at the Dubai Airshow on Wednesday, without specifying what engine would power it, while reducing its order for the U.S. planemaker's delayed 777X model. The 787s, which can take either Rolls or rival GE Aviation's GEnx engines, will be delivered to Emirates in 2023, a year later than a tentative purchase plan outlined two years ago.
