General Electric (GE) has completed the sale of its US fleet services business to Element Financial for $5bn.
The company said that the sale of GE's Mexican, Australian and New Zealand fleet businesses to Element is also expected to close at the end of the third quarter, and the sale of GE's European fleet businesses to Arval is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
GE Capital CEO Keith Sherin said: "We are pleased to complete the sale of our U.S. fleet services business to Element. "It is another important step as we continue to execute on our plan to sell most of the assets of GE Capital."
GE is focusing more on its high-value industrial businesses and is selling most GE Capital assets. The company's board of directors has determined that current market conditions are favorable to pursue disposition of these assets.
GE is also expected to retain the financing "verticals" that relate to GE's industrial businesses.
Element Financial president Bradley Nullmeyer said: "The fleet management industry is a primary focus for Element Financial Corporation as a platform for delivering strong cash flows for our business, leading-edge products and services for our customers, challenging career opportunities for our employees and attractive returns for our investors."
Element Financial expects that the acquisition of the fleet business will give it greater scope to serve the fleet sector in North America and abroad.
Element chief executive officer Steven Hudson said: "Based on our experience integrating previously acquired fleet management platforms, we are very confident in our ability to meet or exceed our previously announced US$90 million to US$95 million integration savings target and to be in a position to re-engage in the consolidation of this industry by the mid-point of 2016.
