Saturday, August 9, 2008

Recent News: GE Energy Olympics, Spanish Solar, GE Capital, Haier, Investors Misled, Appliance Buyers, Jack Welch, GE Aviation, T. Boone Pickens, NBC

GE Energy to Provide Services for Beijing Power Plant That Will Supply Power for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
GE Energy will provide long-term services for a new power plant that will supply electricity for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, as well as heat and power for the city of Beijing in the future...

GE buys 32 pct of Spanish solar energy firm
Spanish solar power company Fotowatio said on Friday that General Electric's Energy Financial Services unit had bought 32 percent of the company for 150 million euros ($233.5 million)....

GE Capital Completes Acquisition of Most of CitiCapital
GE Capital today announced the completion of its acquisition of most of CitiCapital, Citigroup's North American commercial leasing and commercial equipment finance business, adding $13.2 billion in assets...

Haier Eyes GE Appliance Unit as It Seeks Acquisitions
Haier Group Corp., China's largest maker of refrigerators and air conditioners, is looking at General Electric Co.'s appliance arm and other ``opportunities'' as it seeks acquisitions overseas...

Suit claims GE misled investors in first quarter
Two shareholders of General Electric Co. have filed suit in federal court in Connecticut, accusing the conglomerate of failing to disclose deteriorating business conditions during the first quarter in what they said amounted to securities fraud...

GE Executive: Still In Talks With Possible Appliance Unit Buyers
General Electic Co. (GE) is still in talks with possible buyers of its appliance business, but will most likely spin it off along with the company's consumer and industrial division, GE International Chief Executive Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco said Monday...

The success story of Jack Welch
He is one of the world's most admired and influential business leaders. A business strategist with a great vision, his business philosophy is a lesson for businesses across the globe. Meet Jack Welch who served as chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) from 1981-2001. He transformed an ailing organization into one of the world's best companies...

GE Aviation wins $730M deal from Air One
Italian airline Air One SpA has ordered engines and signed an agreement with GE Aviation that add up to more than $730 million, the engine maker announced Monday...

GE Struggles but Signs T. Boone Pickens Deal
General Electric (GE: NYSE) has had a tough couple of months, with the stock falling to about $26 per share. It has made up some lost ground and has been trading around $28.50 for the past few days or so. It's a challenge to know what it will do in the short-term...

GE investors see post-Olympics NBC sale unlikely
After more than a year of Wall Street chatter that General Electric Co. would sell its NBC Universal media unit after broadcasting the Beijing Olympics, investors now say such a move seems unlikely....

GE pushes Beijing Olympics sponsorship
General Electric (GE) is launching a global campaign to promote its sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics. It breaks to coincide with the opening ceremony later today (August 8)...

Recent News: GE Money Canadian Mortgage, GE Energy UAE Wind, UAE Smelter, Reorganization, Clean Coal, NBC Universal, and GE Healthcare

GE Money gets out of Canadian mortgage business
A finance subsidiary of General Electric Co plans to wind up its Canadian alternative mortgage business this week as part of a wider corporate shift away from consumer finance, according to a note sent to brokers. GE Money said that as of the close of business Thursday, it will no longer accept new Canadian mortgage applications but will continue to fund existing commitments...

GE Receives $500 Million Contract to Supply Power Equipment for World's Largest Single-Site Aluminum Complex
GE Energy has received a contract of more than US$500 million to supply equipment to power the world's largest aluminum processing complex at a single site. The Emirates Aluminum (EMAL) production facility is located close to the Arabian Gulf near Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Using natural gas as its primary fuel, the power plant will feature Frame 9FA gas turbines, C7 steam turbines, heat recovery steam generators and condensers, all provided by GE Energy...

General Electric wins $500 mln UAE smelter deal
U.S. conglomerate General Electric said on Wednesday its energy unit had won a contract worth more than $500 million to supply equipment to power an aluminium smelter in Abu Dhabi. Emirates Aluminium is building a $5 billion smelter with target output capacity of 1.4 million tonnes of aluminium per year, which will make it one of the largest in the world...

GE executive: Reorg will simplify conglomerate
General Electric Co.'s recently announced reorganization will help simplify operations and give investors a clearer view of the company, a top executive told members of Congress on Monday.
John Rice, vice chairman of the Fairfield-based GE and president of the newly formed GE Technology Infrastructure unit, said cutting GE to four businesses from six is a logical move....

GE close to $3bn clean-coal deal to bury carbon
US conglomerate GE says it could sign a deal within months to build a $US3 billion ($3.13 billion) "clean coal" power plant in NSW or Queensland that would store carbon dioxide underground.
But any plant agreement would probably rely on government help with the cost of storing the greenhouse gases, depending on the final outcome of the federal Government's planned emissions trading scheme. GE, which intends to turn coal into gas and then strip out and bury the carbon dioxide, is in talks with utilities in both states and would like to see an agreement for a commercial plant "within the next six months", GE global clean coal power business head Keith White said in Melbourne yesterday...

Abu Dhabi Investor to Pressure GE's NBC Universal
The conventional wisdom in American business is this: find a sovereign fund investor to lift investors' confidence by boosting the price and demand for shares. Facing its toughest uphill battle in decades, even blue-chip king General Electric has resorted to that strategy, creating an $8 billion global partnership with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co., which is in the process of buying enough discounted GE shares on the open market to become one of the conglomerate's top 10 institutional investors....

GE Healthcare in definitive agreement to acquire Vital Signs
GE Healthcare, a provider of medical technologies and services for patient care and a business unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), and Vital Signs Inc (Nasdaq:VITL), a global provider of medical products applicable to a wide range of care areas, announced on Thursday (24 July) that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which GE will acquire Vital Signs...