General Electric's North American credit card business filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of common stock as part of GE's efforts to reduce exposure to its financial businesses.
GE announced plans in November to spin off the business that makes credit card loans to consumers into a publicly traded company, which bankers estimated could be worth roughly $16 billion to $18 billion.
GE shares were up about one percent in trading before the bell. (Click here for the latest quote.)
The business, which will operate under the name Synchrony Financial, is the largest provider of private label credit cards in the United States, based on purchase volume and receivables, according the IPO filing.
Synchrony Financial filed a $100 million placeholder with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday and GE said it expects to complete the IPO later this year.
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley are lead underwriters for the IPO, according to the filing.
Synchrony Financial said it expects to list its stock under the symbol "SYF" on the New York Stock Exchange. The filing did not reveal how many shares its parent would sell and at what price.
GE said in November that it would float up to 20 percent of the retail finance business.
The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.
—By Reuters