GE dumps shares of Swiss Re |
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Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:57
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FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) - General Electric Co. announced the sale of its stock holdings in Swiss Re on Thursday and reaffirmed its first-quarter and full-year 2007 earnings per share outlook.'Swiss Re's stock has performed well, and we have gained significant value in our equity holdings,' said Jeffrey Immelt, GE's chairman and chief executive.GE sold 16.65 million shares of common stock for 104 Swiss francs per share, or $85.14, for a total of $1.4 billion based on current exchange rates.Swiss Re, the world's largest reinsurer with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, also plans to repurchase 16.65 million shares of common stock from GE for 1.71 billion Swiss francs, or about $1.4 billion.When the deal is complete, GE will no longer own shares of Swiss Re's common stock and will receive proceeds of $2.8 billion, resulting in a $565 million pretax gain. The gain will be used to pay for restructuring and a separate charge from a recent asbestos-related legal decision, company officials said.Immelt said he is confident GE will meet its earnings-per-share guidance of between 43 cents and 45 cents for the quarter. Per-share earnings for the year will be between $2.18 and $2.23, an increase of between 10 percent and 12 percent, according to GE.Also on Thursday, Swiss Re announced that net profits nearly doubled last year.The company earned 4.56 billion Swiss francs (US$3.74 billion) for the full year, up from a restated figure of 2.3 billion francs for 2005.Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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