The GE Retail Finance IPO Finally Has Arrived

Back in November GE filed a registration statement with the SEC stating the company’s intentions:

GE currently intends to complete its exit from Retail Finance in 2015 through a split-off transaction, by making a tax-free distribution of its remaining interest in Retail Finance to electing GE stockholders in exchange for shares of GE’s common stock.

In the announcement, GE said it expects to shed the rest of its retail finance business in a split-off transaction in 2015. GE may also choose to exit by selling or otherwise distributing or disposing of all or a portion of its remaining interest in the business.

The Form S-1 filing does not indicate how much of Synchrony Financial’s common stock will be held by GE following the IPO. But GE does anticipate including whatever ownership stake it retains in Synchrony in the split-off transaction next year.

The new company plans to use the net proceeds from the offering to help repay related party debt owed to GE Capital, to increase the new firm’s capital, to invest in liquid assets, to pay fees and expenses related to the transaction and for other corporate purposes. The company also is planning a new offering of senior unsecured debt in an unspecified amount shortly after the IPO.

Underwriters for the offering are Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities, Citigroup Global Markets and Morgan Stanley & Co.