General Electric (NYSE:GE) may be looking to put more of its healthcare business on the table in a planned upcoming spin-off and initial public offering, growing from a previous announcement of 20% to as much as 49.9% of the division, according to a Boston Business Journal report.
CEO Larry Culp reportedly made remarks suggesting that an increased portion of the healthcare biz might be included in the deal during a CNBC interview. The move comes as the company looks to reduce its debt, according to the Business Journal, having seen its stock price drop by more than 20% since releasing its earnings late last month.
GE announced in June that it was looking to sell 20% of the healthcare division with the rest distributed to existing shareholders in a deal expected to take 12 to 18 months.
“We talked in June about an IPO there, where we’d take 19.9% of the proceeds as cash. We have flexibility, we have options there. We could preserve our tax-free spin status while selling up to 49.9%. There’s a lot of cash there, given some of the estimates of value that are out there,” Culp said in the CNBC interview.
Culp is following the turnaround strategy set out by his predecessor, John Flannery, in June, according to the BBJ. The plan includes deleveraging the company and decentralizing its structure, according to the report.
No changes to the company’s future Boston headquarters were mentioned in the interview, according to the report.
Shares in GE have risen 4.5% so far today, at $8.35 as of 10:59 a.m. EST.
