Bank of Montreal said Thursday it had agreed to acquire General Electric Capital Corp.’s transportation-finance business operations in a multi-billion-dollar deal, bolstering its commercial-banking business and expanding its U.S. footprint. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed, though BMO said the business being acquired had net earning assets of about $8.7 billion at June 30 and that the final price would be based on the value of those assets at closing, plus an unspecified premium. BMO, Canada’s fourth-largest bank by assets,...
Bank of Montreal (BMO) is to purchase GE Capital's transportation finance business in the United States, the largest financier to the commercial truck and trailer segment in North America, which had net earning assets of $11.5bn at the end of June. The deal will be financed by a combination of debt and equity from BMO, with an option for additional financing. This is part of General Electric's ongoing strategy of reducing the size of its financial business through the sale of most of the assets of its GE Capital unit.