A follow up to the auto sector and hedge funds write up:
General Electric said Wednesday that the federal government had agreed to insure as much as $139 billion in debt for its lending subsidiary, GE Capital. This is the second time in a month that G.E. has turned to a federal program aimed at helping companies during the global credit crisis.
Until September, GE relied on selling commercial paper to obtain more than 15% of the funding of the finance unit. But investors began shying away from commercial paper after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and several other big financial players struggled. GE has said it would reduce its reliance on commercial paper, but it wasn't clear how the company would replace that funding.
GE Capital is not a bank, but granting it access to a new program from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation may reassure investors and help the lender compete with banks that already have government-protected debt, a G.E. spokesman, Russell Wilkerson, told Bloomberg News.
“Inclusion in this program will allow us to source our debt competitively with other participating financial institutions,” Mr. Wilkerson said. Joining the program could make it easier for GE to issue new debt in coming months. In recent months, investors have worried about GE's liquidity, and the price it has to pay to borrow money.
The F.D.I.C. program covers about $139 billion of G.E.’s debt, or 125 percent of total senior unsecured debt outstanding as of Sept. 30 and maturing by June 30. GE said Wednesday that under the program, the government will guarantee as much as $139 billion in long- and short-term debt through next June. But, Mr. Wilkerson added, "This does not mean that GE intends to issue this amount of debt."
With roughly $600 billion in assets, GE Capital is as big as some large banks. The finance unit last year supplied almost half of GE's profit. But GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt this September said he would shrink the unit in response to the credit crisis. GE Capital issues loans for everything from aircraft engines to commercial real estate and restaurant equipment.
G.E.’s finance businesses are able to seek F.D.I.C. debt coverage because its GE Capital subsidiary also owns a federal savings bank and an industrial loan company, both of which already qualify. Last month, G.E. started using a new Federal Reserve program aimed at reviving demand for the commercial paper for a wide variety of companies.
Looks like the Treasury and Fed are making all the right moves and pushing the right buttons so far.
p/s photo: Nancy Wu Ding Yan & Sharon Chan Mun Chi
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