General Electric on Wednesday named South Korea's LG Electronics as a contender to buy its appliance business, which is valued at $4-$8 billion, along with China's Haier Electronics Group Co Ltd, Mexico's Controladora Mabe and Turkey's Arcelik.
Major Asian appliance makers have been cited as likely suitors since GE, the second-largest US company by market value, said earlier this month it may part with its century-old appliances unit, which had sales of $7.2 billion last year.
"The players have become somewhat obvious," GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt told reporters while visiting South Korea. "It is Haier in China, it is LG in Korea, it's Mabe in Mexico, it's Arcelik in Turkey."
LG shares closed 3.6 percent lower, compared with a 1.1 percent decline in the main KOSPI share index as investors digested the prospect of a big acquisition. In a statement to the Korea Stock Exchange, LG said it had not yet decided whether to bid for the GE unit. Analysts queried what LG would get from buying the appliance unit, one strand in a web of GE businesses ranging from jet engines to commercial lending.
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