GENERAL ELECTRIC is preparing to buy more mining equipment and services companies as it creates a new unit using the blueprint for doubling oil and gas revenue in four years.
The division should reach $5 billion in sales “within a few years,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive of GE Transportation, of which the business will be a part.
GE’s current mining offerings generated about $2 billion last year. GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt bulked up his energy portfolio with more than $11 billion in purchases in a six-month spree that ended in March 2011.
Now he’s betting on rising demand for commodities from copper to coal even as miners such as BHP Billiton, the world’s largest, delay spending on projects and China’s fast-growing economy shows signs of faltering. GE Mining chief executive Geoff Knox said.
“We have to be targeted in buying into spaces that leverage what we already do. We want to use our current knowledge and add it to the product line we’re acquiring and make it smarter and more appealing.” GE Mining will be based in Brisbane, Australia, home to 2012 acquisition Industrea. – (Bloomberg)
