425

Filed by General Electric Company

Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended

Subject Company: General Electric Company

Commission File No.: 001-00035

Post on GEReports.com

GE Announces Synchrony Financial Exchange Offer

Oct. 19, 2015 by Amrita Mainthia

GE (NYSE: GE) announced today its offer to exchange GE company stock for shares in Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF), the largest provider of private label credit cards in the United States.* (*Source: The Nilson Report (April, 2015, Issue # 1062) - based on 2014 data.)

Shareholders who participate in the exchange offer will receive a certain amount of Synchrony common stock for each share of GE common stock accepted in the exchange offer. The exact ratio will be determined shortly before the exchange offer expires in mid-November. GE shares tendered and accepted for exchange will reduce the outstanding shares of GE. Further details of the exchange are set forth within the Prospectus on the Exchange Offer website: http://www.edocumentview.com/GEexchange.

Synchrony Financial offers private label and co-branded credit cards, promotional financing and installment lending, loyalty programs and FDIC-insured savings products through Synchrony Bank. Synchrony traces its roots back to 1932, and it is the holding company for the entities that historically conducted GE’s North American retail finance business. Last July, Synchrony launched and successfully executed the third-largest initial public offering of 2014. Last week, Synchrony received approval from the Federal Reserve Board to become a standalone savings and loan holding company following completion of the exchange offer.

The Synchrony Financial separation is consistent with GE’s strategy of reducing the size of its financial businesses and focusing on its industrial core. GE believes that the separation will allow Synchrony to operate as a standalone company and pursue a long-term strategy that is focused only on its own business objectives.

“The Synchrony exchange is an important part of GE’s transformation into a simpler, more focused company,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. “We expect the exchange will reduce the outstanding float of GE common stock by 6% to 7%, and if fully subscribed, would represent the equivalent of about $18 billion - $21 billion in GE stock buyback, subject to the relative performance of GE and Synchrony stock prices. With the launch of today’s exchange offer and progress to-date on the GE Capital Exit Plan, we are on track to return more than $90 billion to investors from 2015 to 2018 with more than 90% of our earnings coming from high-return industrial businesses.”

Tags: GE Capital

 

 

Additional Information and Where to Find It

This document is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities nor a recommendation as to whether investors should participate in the exchange offer. Synchrony has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) a registration statement on Form S-4 that includes the Prospectus and GE has filed with the SEC a Schedule TO, which more fully describes the terms and conditions of the exchange offer. The exchange offer will be made solely by the Prospectus. The Prospectus contains important information about the exchange offer, GE, Synchrony and related matters, and GE will deliver the Prospectus to holders of GE common stock. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROSPECTUS, AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC, WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AND BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. None of GE, Synchrony or any of their respective directors or officers or the dealer managers appointed with respect to the exchange offer makes any recommendation as to whether you should participate in the exchange offer.

Holders of GE common stock may obtain the Prospectus, and other related documents filed with the SEC, at the SEC’s Public Reference Room, located at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, and will be able to obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Holders of GE common stock will also be able to obtain copies of the Prospectus, and other documents filed with the SEC, by mail from the SEC at the above address, at prescribed rates. The SEC also maintains a website that contains reports, proxy statements and other information that GE and Synchrony file electronically with the SEC and that may be obtained for free. The address of that website is http://www.sec.gov. Holders of GE common stock will also be able to obtain a copy of the Prospectus by clicking on the appropriate link on this website. Alternatively, Georgeson Inc., the information agent for the exchange offer, will, upon request, arrange to send the Prospectus to holders of GE common stock who call (866) 300-8594 (toll-free in the United States) or (781) 575-2173 (internationally).

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains “forward-looking statements” – that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and often contain words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “see,” “will,” “would,” or “target.”

Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, such as statements about our announced plan to reduce the size of our financial services businesses, including expected cash and non-cash charges associated with this plan; expected income; earnings per share; revenues; organic growth; margins; cost structure; restructuring charges; cash flows; return on capital; capital expenditures, capital allocation or capital structure; dividends; and the split between Industrial and GE Capital earnings.

For us, particular uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements include:

 

  •   failure to consummate the exchange offer;

 

  •   obtaining (or the timing of obtaining) any required regulatory reviews or approvals or any other consents or approvals associated with our announced plan to reduce the size of our financial services businesses;

 

  •   our ability to complete incremental asset sales as part of that plan in a timely manner (or at all) and at the prices we have assumed;

 

  •   changes in law, economic and financial conditions, including interest and exchange rate volatility, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets, including the impact of these conditions on our ability to sell or the value of incremental assets to be sold as part of our announced plan to reduce the size of our financial services businesses as well as other aspects of that plan;

 

  •   the impact of conditions in the financial and credit markets on the availability and cost of GECC’s funding, and GECC’s exposure to counterparties;

 

  •   the impact of conditions in the housing market and unemployment rates on the level of commercial and consumer credit defaults;

 

  •   pending and future mortgage loan repurchase claims and other litigation claims in connection with WMC, which may affect our estimates of liability, including possible loss estimates;

 

  •   our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so;

 

  •   the adequacy of our cash flows and earnings and other conditions, which may affect our ability to pay our quarterly dividend at the planned level or to repurchase shares at planned levels;

 

  •   GECC’s ability to pay dividends to GE at the planned level, which may be affected by GECC’s cash flows and earnings, financial services regulation and oversight, and other factors;

 

  •   our ability to convert pre-order commitments/wins into orders;

 

  •   the price we realize on orders since commitments/wins are stated at list prices;

  •   customer actions or developments such as early aircraft retirements or reduced energy demand and other factors that may affect the level of demand and financial performance of the major industries and customers we serve;

 

  •   the effectiveness of our risk management framework;

 

  •   the impact of regulation and regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks, including the impact of financial services regulation and litigation;

 

  •   adverse market conditions, timing of and ability to obtain required bank regulatory approvals, or other factors relating to us or Synchrony Financial that could prevent us from completing the Synchrony Financial split-off as planned;

 

  •   our capital allocation plans, as such plans may change including with respect to the timing and size of share repurchases, acquisitions, joint ventures, dispositions and other strategic actions;

 

  •   our success in completing, including obtaining regulatory approvals for, announced transactions, such as the proposed transactions and alliances with Alstom, Appliances and our announced plan to reduce the size of our financial services businesses, and our ability to realize anticipated earnings and savings;

 

  •   our success in integrating acquired businesses and operating joint ventures;

 

  •   the impact of potential information technology or data security breaches; and

 

  •   the other factors that are described in “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014.

These or other uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.