General Electric Closes Divestment of BioPharma to Danaher

GE DHR BKR WAB

General Electric Company (GE - Free Report) yesterday announced to have completed the divestment of its BioPharma business to Danaher Corporation (DHR - Free Report) . Notably, the divestment deal was revealed by the parties in February 2019.

Notably, shares of the industrial conglomerate have gained 0.6% yesterday, ending the trading session at $7.94.

The BioPharma business originally belonged to General Electric’s GE Life Sciences business under the ambit of the Healthcare segment.

The BioPharma business comprises single-use technologies, process chromatography hardware and related consumables, development instrumentation and related consumables, and cell culture media and service. It generated a profit of $1.5 billion and cash of $1.3 billion in 2019.

Divestment Details

For the completion of the transaction, General Electric and Danaher secured approvals from various regulatory authorities, including the European Commission as well as the antitrust authorities of Korea, Brazil, Russia, China, Israel and Japan. Also, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) gave a green signal to the buyout on Mar 19.

As noted, the BioPharma-divestment deal was valued at $21.4 billion. Of the full value, General Electric received approximately $21 billion in cash or net proceeds of $20 billion (after adjusting for deal fees, deal taxes and other items). In addition, a certain portion of the company’s pension liabilities was assumed by Danaher.

The divestment is in sync with General Electric’s efforts to lower leverage and thereby, strengthen the balance sheet. It intends to use the net proceeds to pay down debts.

Also, the divestment will help the company to focus on the rest of its GE Healthcare businesses. Notably, GE Healthcare specializes in monitoring and diagnostics, imaging, and providing multiple related services and accessories. The business generated revenues of $19.9 billion in 2019.

General Electric’s Restructuring Plans

The above-mentioned transactions are part of General Electric’s portfolio restructuring plans.

In June 2018, the company communicated plans to transform itself into a high-tech industrial company, focused on Aviation, Power and Renewable Energy. It then decided to separate GE Healthcare and turn it to a stand-alone company. Also, General Electric lost its controlling shareholding in Baker Hughes Company (BKR - Free Report) and divested GE Transportation to Wabtec Corporation (WAB - Free Report) in 2019.

Further, the company is on track to reduce exposure to the GE Capital business as well as lessen its debt burden.

Zacks Rank, Share Price Performance and Earnings Estimates

General Electric currently has a market capitalization of $69 billion and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In the past three months, the company’s share price has decreased 33.5% compared with a 26.5% decline recorded by the industry.

 

In the past 60 days, its earnings estimates for 2020 and 2021 have been revised. Currently, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for General Electric’s earnings is pegged at 46 cents for 2020 and 66 cents for 2021, suggesting declines of 20.7% and 12% from the respective 60-day-ago figures.

General Electric Company Price and Consensus

 

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