Following months of indecision, General Electric Co stands to make around $100m from the sale of several subsidiaries, leaving the way clear to concentrate on its defence interests. US-based Lynton Group Inc will buy the UK company’s air charter firm Magee Aviation and Australian and New Zealand-based Distribution & Trading units will go to electrical equipment manufacturer Rexel SA. GEC’s Ireland Distribution & Trading unit will go to Olive Holdings, but is awaiting Irish government approval. The sales have set the ball rolling for the defense and electronics giant that first mentioned it would be reorganizing the company at the beginning of last year (CI No 3,084). In July GEC said it would not sell its stake in GPT Communications Ltd because it wanted to become a large player in the telecommunications market (CI No 3,199), and at the end of last year announced it would be focusing on the GEC-Marconi defense business (CI No 3,305). With $100m virtually secured, GEC still has to get rid of electrical component company GEC Plessey Semiconductor business and Marconi Instruments which makes testing and weighing equipment. GEC plans to sell the remaining businesses by the end of March.
