GE Plans to Buy Sanyo Credit for $1.1 Billion

General Electric (GE is the parent company of CNBC) said on Friday it would launch a $1.14 billion tender offer for Sanyo Electric Credit, a Japanese leasing company whose main shareholder is Goldman Sachs .

GE said it would pay 3,250 yen per share in the tender offer, a premium of nearly 62% from Sanyo Credit's closing price of 2,010 yen in Tokyo on Friday.

GE said it would aim to buy at least two-thirds of the company for an estimated 90.14 billion yen ($764 million) but would buy all shares tendered, which would boost the deal to 135 billion yen.

GE said the tender offer would begin on March 26 and last for the 30 business days to May 9.

Sources said last month that Goldman and struggling electronics maker Sanyo Electric were set to sell their combined 50% stake in the leasing firm to GE for about 45 billion yen.

The consumer electronics maker sold a big chunk of its stake in the leasing unit to Goldman as part of its restructuring a little more than a year ago.

Osaka-based Sanyo Electric Credit expects a net profit of 7.9 billion yen in the year to end-March, a turnaround from its 9.9 billion yen loss in the previous year.