Abu Dhabi Buying Into General Electric

Posted by John Carney, Jul 22, 2008, 8:57am

A Persian Gulf sovereign wealth fund has agreed to an $8 billion partnership with General Electric in a deal that will make it one of GE's top ten shareholders. Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development and GE are cooperating on a commercial finance division focussed on the Middle East and African markets. The deal anticipates further partnerships in aviation and clean energy research.

Each company will contribute $4 billion of equity to the partnership over three years. At the same time, Mubadala Development will buy at huge stake in GE, the world's twelfth largest company. Bank of America is the 10th largest shareholder of GE, with 1.2 per cent worth $3.3 billion at current prices. The largest institutional shareholder is Barclays Global Investors, which owns almost four per cent of GE.

Mubadala and GE in strategic partnership, $8 billion finance venture [The National]

3Recommend this! 12Comments

Tags: Abu Dhabi, General Electric

Comments

1

Posted by american bandersnatch, Jul 22, 2008 9:18AM

Carney - slow down with the posts. How much coffee did you drink this morning.

2

Posted by guest, Jul 22, 2008 9:27AM

think the barclays holdings are for ETFs...

3

Posted by Finnegan, Jul 22, 2008 9:42AM

Correct me if I am wrong, but does buying shares in the open market and also setting up a joint venture with equal contributions constitute a bailout, or is the title of the piece filled with hyperbole?

4

Posted by diablo, Jul 22, 2008 9:51AM

Does Erin Burnett have anything to do with this?

5

Posted by guest, Jul 22, 2008 9:56AM

Russell Wilkerson, GE

John,

Your headline is misleading and innaccurate. This is joint venture where both parties are contributing capital to create a new growth fund to buy financial services assets. Mubadala also indicated their interest in acquiring shares of GE in the open market. The term bailout is offensive and wrong.

Thank you

6

Posted by guest, Jul 22, 2008 10:07AM

I didn't know GE was in this much trouble. Ugh.

7

Posted by guest, Jul 22, 2008 10:08AM

Apple Dubai?

Mubawhatnow?

8

Posted by guest, Jul 22, 2008 10:09AM

Well, this means Bill O'Reilly will keep refering to GE as anti-American.

9

Posted by guest, Jul 22, 2008 10:17AM

Obama just visited the Middle East, coincidence?

10

Posted by Finnegan, Jul 22, 2008 11:32AM

Yes, changing the title to "buying into" instead of your previous "bailing out" is a big stealth improvement in captioning.

11

Posted by guest, Jul 22, 2008 2:52PM

Glad I loaded up when it was in the 26 dollar range. I have 1500 shares.

12

Posted by StMarc, Jul 22, 2008 4:15PM

I view the matter of foreigners wanting to buy American companies in much the same way I view the matter of homosexuals wanting to get married. To wit:

Let 'em, if they want to... why shouldn't they suffer like the rest of us?

M

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