(Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. has filed confidentially for an initial public offering of its health-care unit, according to people familiar with the matter, moving ahead with plans to spin off its second most profitable business line.
The industrial conglomerate is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley on the planned listing, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details aren’t public. A public filing is likely next spring, they said.
A GE representative declined to comment on plans for the health unit. The shares rose 2.9 percent in U.S. pre-market trading on Wednesday.
“As we announced in June, as an independent global health-care business, we will have greater flexibility to pursue future growth opportunities, react quickly to changes in the industry and invest in innovation,” GE said in an emailed statement.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan declined to comment.
A public listing of GE’s health-care unit would follow a similar move by Germany’s Siemens AG, which sold shares in its Healthineers business in March. The shares are up 32 percent since the IPO, valuing Siemens Healthineers AG at about 37 billion euros ($42 billion).
A newly public GE health-care company would rank among the world’s largest, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Karen Ubelhart said in June. Based on the valuation of peer companies, the new entity could have an enterprise value, which includes debt, of $65 billion to $70 billion, Ubelhart said.
With a spin, GE will retreat from one of its largest and most profitable markets. GE Healthcare, which earned $3.5 billion last year on sales of $19 billion, specializes in equipment such as MRI scanners and mobile diagnostic machines. The company also has a fast-growing life-sciences division, which accounts for about a quarter of GE Healthcare’s sales.
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