Empresas y finanzas

GE Commercial Finance Signs Its Largest Factoring Deal



    GE Commercial Finance has extended a five-year, non-recourse trade
    receivables factoring facility with a credit line of EUR 800m to KME
    Group S.p.A. GE will purchase and manage KME's receivables across
    Europe. The deal is GE's largest pan-European factoring transaction.

    "KME will have a single system across five countries, with
    standardized credit and collection processes, significantly reducing
    complexity across the business. KME will thus benefit from greater
    clarity and predictability in its finances, and be able to focus fully
    on growth," said Thierry Willieme, Managing Director of Factofrance,
    the French factoring unit of GE Commercial Finance, which is managing
    the facility.

    KME Group S.p.A., formerly "Societa Metallurgica Italiana," is one
    of the world's largest producers of copper and copper-alloy semi
    finished products and manufactures a vast array of specialty high-tech
    products. It has 15 plants in Italy, Germany, France, Spain and China;
    6,847 employees and two research centres. It manufactures in excess of
    628,000 tons of products a year and had consolidated revenues of EUR
    2.176bn in 2005. Following a recent capital increase, this deal will
    further improve the Group's financial and working capital structure.

    "This comprehensive facility will help KME manage its working
    capital volatility and reduce the impact of fluctuations in the price
    of its raw materials, copper and alloy, while at the same time
    achieving significant saving in terms of financial expense,
    quantifiable in the range of a few million euro on a yearly basis,"
    commented Vincenzo Cannatelli, CEO of KME Group.

    With market leading factoring businesses in both France and
    Germany, GE Commercial Finance was ideally placed to provide KME with
    a true one stop, pan-European solution it needed. "GE's solid global
    risk management expertise and robust due diligence processes meant it
    was able to commit to a five-year deal, rather than the two-year
    standard deal common across the industry," said Mogens Tolbod,
    Commercial Director at GE Commercial Finance.

    Historically, factoring has been used predominantly by small and
    medium enterprises, particularly those experiencing rapid growth, with
    the majority of factoring programs focused on a single domestic
    market. The KME facility demonstrates that factoring is increasingly
    seen as a useful tool for large, multinational corporations as well.
    GE's size and global reach gives its customers a significant benefit
    in structuring such cross-border deals.

    ABOUT GE COMMERCIAL FINANCE

    GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an
    array of financial products and services, has assets of over $206
    billion and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

    General Electric (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work - a diversified
    technology, media and financial services company focused on solving
    some of the world's toughest problems. GE serves customer in more than
    100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more
    information, visit ge.com.