ge to sell equipment finance to crdit mutuel of france businessgeneral electric to sell units to crdit mutuel of france 3 2015london general electric said on thursday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its equipment finance and receivable finance businesses in france and germany to banque fdrative du crdit mutuel a unit of crdit mutuel of francethe deal represents the latest move in ges effort to retreat from banking and refocus on its industrial roots the conglomerate said in april that it planned to sell the bulk of ge capital within two yearsge capitals commercial lending and leasing platforms in france and germany provide socalled factoring services or financing related to the sale of accounts receivable and leasing products to a broad range of commercial customersas we continue to execute on our strategy to significantly reduce the size of ge capital we are excited that our longtime partner for french factoring would take forward our cll business in france and germany keith s sherin the ge capital chairman and chief executive said in a news release referring to commercial lending and leasingthe transaction is subject to regulatory approvalgeneral electric has agreed to a variety of asset sales this year as it pulls back from banking and financing that is not directly related to its industrial businessesin june ge agreed to sell the bulk of a division that finances leveraged buyouts to the canada pension plan investment board in a 12 billion deal that same month it sold its fleetfinancing businesses in the united states mexico australia and new zealand to element financial corporation of canada for 69 billionin september bmo financial group agreed to acquire ges transport finance business in the united states and canadaafter its various asset sales ge said that it had targeted a return of about 35 billion in capital to shareholders through dividendsthe sale of the equipment finance and receivable finance businesses in france and germany is expected to contribute about 13 billion to that amount ge said