General Electric Co. said Friday that two private investment firms completed a deal to buy a majority interest in its India-based back office unit. (MSNBC is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, which is a GE company.)
The conglomerate also said it remains comfortable with previous 2004 and fourth-quarter earnings forecasts.
GE said it received about $500 million in cash from General Atlantic Partners and Oak Hill Capital Partners, and keeps a 40 percent stake in GE Capital International Services (Gecis).
Gecis, which will continue to serve GE under a multiyear contract, employs more than 17,000 staff and plans to offer its services to companies in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, where it already has operations.
GE said it remains comfortable with previously earnings forecasts in the range of $1.57 to $1.60 per share for 2004 and between 48 cents and 51 cents a share for the fourth quarter, with earnings growth in the fourth quarter of 13 percent to 20 percent.
Wall Street analysts expected fourth-quarter earnings of 50 cents a share and 2004 profit of $1.58 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.