GE will be transparent about challenges in its turnaround plan, CEO Larry Culp says

KEY POINTS

• "I think what we're gonna try to do, frankly, is to share with people in as transparent a way as we possibly can, what those issues are ... and the plan that we have," General Electric CEO Larry Culp says.
• "We wanna strengthen the balance sheet and set our businesses up to play and win," he told CNBC's Jim Cramer.
• "There's a lot of capital there that we're gonna be able to put to use to bring down the leverage on the industrial balance sheet," he says.

General Electric will be open about its struggles and the goals it expects to achieve in the company's turnaround plan, CEO Larry Culp told CNBC Thursday.

"I think what we're gonna try to do, frankly, is to share with people in as transparent a way as we possibly can, what those issues are ... and the plan that we have," he said in a sit-down interview with "Mad Money's" Jim Cramer. "But it will take-- time. And we don't wanna sugarcoat this."

The industrial conglomerate, which once donned the title of America's most valuable company, has faced debt and management problems for some time. Culp, who became head of the company last September, said he studied the company for years and the top priority is to strengthen its balance sheet.

GE has made moves to sell off $25 billion worth of assets in GE Capital.

"We want to strengthen the balance sheet and set our businesses up to play and win," Culp said. "We've been very clear about our intent to reduce both the leverage on our industrial balance sheet and at GE Capital."

The chief said his company will have access to "the better part of $40 billion of proceeds" after Danaher's $21.4 billion acquisition of GE's biopharmaceutical business goes through. Culp also said he anticipates monetizing GE's stake in Baker Hughes and other deals.

"There's a lot of capital there that we're gonna be able to put to use to bring down the leverage on the industrial balance sheet," he said. "Will it work on the capital side in a similar fashion? We have $10 billion of dispositions planned this year to continue to bring the leverage down."

Watch: Cramer interviews General Electric CEO Larry Culp

Disclosure: Jim Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Dahaner.

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