GE’s energy unit to spin off into rough market for clean energy
(LONDON) — General Electric, in the process of breaking itself apart into three businesses, is scheduled to spin off its clean energy unit, GE Vernova, late next week, instantly creating one of the largest publicly traded energy companies in the world and casting it into a battered market for clean energy stocks.
GE Vernova shares will start trading on the New York Stock Exhange after Easter break on April 2, under the ticker GEV. The spinoff is part of GE CEO’s H. Lawrence Culp Jr.’s plan to unlock value in the company’s healthcare, energy, and aerospace businesses by separating them into three companies. Scott Strazik, who currently runs the energy unit, will become it’s CEO when GE Vernova is a standalone company.
GE successfully spun off its GE Healthcare unit last year and it’s stock is up more than 50%. GE Vernova has about $32 billion in annual revenue, according to Forbes. With more than 55,000 wind turbines and 7,000 gas turbines, GE claims its energy unit’s technology is responsible for up to 30% of the world’s electricity.
GE Vernova will arrive in a market that has punished clean energy companies in the last two years, as high interest rates have driven up costs of any business with heavy infrastructure, such as wind power. GE Vernova has not had a profit in two years, though the company said its losses narrowed in the fourth quarter of 2023. In a trading update in January, it said the businesses pace of improvement will look much like it did in the fourth quarter.
GE stock (GE) itself is up almost 40% year to date, closing at $176.64 on Thursday.
