General Electric’s finance arm has significantly reduced its lending activities to middle- market private equity firms over the past few weeks as the credit crisis takes a toll on its ability to finance leveraged buyouts.
GE Capital’s decision to sharply scale back its financing business could have a chilling effect on takeover activity in the middle-market sector, which includes deals between roughly $100m and $1bn. Chicago-based GE Antares Capital, the GE unit that specialises in leveraged loans, is the sector’s dominant lender.
