In the second major deal this week, GE ( ) said on Friday it's raising $1.5 billion by of healthcare equipment leases and loans to TIAA Bank. The transaction, combined with a plan announced on Tuesday to sell a in oil-and-gas giant Baker Hughes ( ), underscores GE's scramble to raise cash that can be used to Last month Culp also Years of have sparked a cash crunch at GE, which makes everything from light bulbs and jet engines to MRI machines and wind turbines. GE's stock price has been cut in half this year, on track for its worst performance since 2008. Culp, who vowed to move with a to repair GE's finances. "This is the challenge of a lifetime given where we find the company today," Prior to 2008, GE Capital was a major growth engine at the company. It provided affordable financing that allowed customers go out and purchase GE's industrial products. But GE Capital came under enormous pressure during the financial crisis, nearly taking down the entire company. And its problems are still haunting GE. GE Capital's long-term care insurance business took a And the company faces a potentially-costly settlement with the Justice Department over WMC, the Jeff Immelt, the widely-criticized former CEO of GE, said on Thursday he more quickly. "Believe me, it wasn't for a lack of trying," Immelt said from the World Business Forum in New York. "It was just hard to do." Now under Culp, GE Capital is unloading this $1.5 billion healthcare portfolio of loans and leases that financed purchases of medical equipment by 1,100 hospitals and 3,600 physician practices and medical centers across the United States. The equipment includes everything from ultrasound and respiratory machines to surgical and lab materials. As part of the deal, GE and TIAA Bank entered into a five-year vendor financing agreement for GE Healthcare's US customers. GE said that the leadership and sales force of the healthcare equipment finance team will integrated into GE Healthcare in 2019. GE plans to in a bid to raise more cash. Jacksonville, Florida, based TIAA Bank is part of TIAA, the retirement giant that was founded by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie in 1918. Today, TIAA manages around $1 trillion of assets.
General Electric (GE) is to sell its GE Capital portfolio of health care equipment leases and loans to TIAA Bank for $1.5bn. Led by CEO Larry Culp, the company is attempting to raise money to pay its debts by unloading assets. The GE Capital portfolio financed US medical equipment for 1,100 hospitals and 3,600 physician practices and medical facilities. In a statement, GE said it was "pleased that we have been able to find an investor who will help us continue our mission as one of America's leading healthcare companies". The health care equipment's finance team’s leadership and sales staff will be integrated into the division in 2019; GE intends to spin it off.