Ge capital to exit aussie mortgage market

GE Capital (GE.N) is selling its A$5 billion ($5.3 billion) Australia and New Zealand mortgages books to Pepper Homeloans as concerns rise over a softening of the Australian housing market and rising cost of funds.

GE Capital, which shed part of its Australian home loans portfolio in 2008 when global conglomerates were restructuring their lending arms, said on Wednesday it will sell the rest of the portfolio for a small discount to non-bank Australian lender Pepper Homeloans.

GE Capital Australia's Chief Executive Skander Malcolm declined to specify the discount but said GE Capital would now focus on its other eight lines of business that span consumer and corporate finance.

"We can now focus on those businesses where we believe we have sustainable competitive advantage," he told reporters in a conference call.

Source: Reuters.com