GE Healthcare to be spun off in January

Unit is bright spot in troubled GE portfolio as it tries to simplify its structure and operations

General Electric on Monday set the first week of 2023 to complete the spin-off of its healthcare unit and named a new board for the planned independent company.

The new board members of the unit, which will be named GE HealthCare, include its chief executive officer, Peter Arduini, as well as executives from Honeywell International and Amazon Web Services. Including GE chief executive Larry Culp as non-executive chairman, the board will have 10 members.

“With this initial group of directors, we have a highly qualified and capable board that will enable GE HealthCare to hit the ground running,” Mr Culp said on Monday.

In November last year, the conglomerate outlined a plan to split into three publicly traded companies focused on energy, healthcare and aviation to simplify its business and pare down debt. Shares of GE, however, have fallen by nearly a third since then as it battled worker and equipment shortages.

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The company's results have also been dragged by underperformance in its renewable energy business due to regulatory uncertainty.

Still, GE’s healthcare unit has been a bright spot in recent quarters due to strong demand for its medical equipment and services that allowed it to raise prices. For six months ended June 30th, revenue rose 1 per cent to $8.88 billion (€8.9billion) from a year earlier.

In contrast, renewable energy and power businesses reported a revenue drop of 18 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, for the first six months.

GE expects to retain a stake of 19.9 per cent in the healthcare business. — Reuters