GE nears sell-off of Japan units

General Electric is in the final stage of talks to sell its Japanese credit-card and housing-loan units to Shinsei Bank as its cost-cuts programme continues.

It was not immediately clear how much Shinsei would pay to buy GE's three Japanese consumer financing businesses, but it is likely be more than 400 billion yen (£1.89 billion).

In the drive to cut costs and bolster its share price, the company is also jettisoning businesses in which it made its name. It is spinning off its consumer and industrial unit, which includes its appliances business.

GE hired Goldman Sachs in May to explore options for its appliances business but that has broadened to include many others, including the incandescent light bulbs invented by company co-founder Thomas Edison.

GE sold its plastics business to Saudi firm Sabic for $11.6 billion last year.