GE Investors Get a Peek

通用电气(General Electric)旗下金融子公司持有大量垃圾。的确是这样。为了满足投资者了解通用金融(GE Capital)更多具体情况的要求，公司管理层周四召开了一次投资者会议，公布了有关通用金融6,370亿美元资产的许多新情况，受到了投资者欢迎。其中一个细节是：通用金融有大量贷款发放给了垃圾级或是次投资级借款人。举例来说，通用金融在美国市场550亿美元的设备租赁贷款中，有81%发放给了信用评级低于投资级的借款人，40%的贷款发放给了信用评级在B+及以下的人。在其380亿美元杠杆贷款的放贷对象中，76%的借款人达不到B+评级，28%的人评级低于B-。当然，这类贷款的发放对象通常也都是些评级不怎么样的企业，通用电气有经验对付这些公司。如果借款人违约，通用电气可以用他们的硬资产来抵消损失。话虽如此，鉴于眼下这场经济衰退使垃圾级借款人遭受重创，即使那些最有经验的放贷商也难以完好无损。通用金融虽拨出了准备金以应对贷款违约，但准备金的规模可能还需要扩大。例如，通用金融管理层预计在2009年旗下杠杆贷款会遭受3.33亿美元的信贷损失──不到贷款总额的1%。该公司计划今年拨出的准备金达到帐面金额的1.2%。通用金融的消费者贷款组合也包括了诸多面向低评级借款人的贷款。该公司说，旗下1,830亿美元消费者贷款中，有58%发放给了最优借款人，但这意味着有42%的贷款放给了非最优借款人。通用电气的一大问题是，它是否需要募集更多资本金来抵消通用金融的损失。从最新披露的情况看，通用电气有这种需要。Peter Eavis 相关阅读通用电气：金融子公司能应对最严峻的形势 2009-03-20标普下调通用电气及通用金融的信用评级 2009-03-13通用电气需要一个“断路器” 2009-03-05通用电气连续走软 跌至18年低点 2009-03-05通用加强金融子公司 信用评级仍存疑 2009-01-26通用金融未来或面临严峻考验 2008-09-23 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年03月20日12:03', 'UBS'));瑞士银行英文名称：UBS AG (ADS)总部地点：瑞士(Switzerland)上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：UBSdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年03月20日12:03', 'GE'));通用电气公司英文名称：General Electric Co.总部地点：美国上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：GEdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年03月20日12:03', 'GEX.XX'));General Electric Capital Corp.总部地点：美国document.write (truthmeter('2009年03月20日12:03', 'UBSN.VX'));瑞士银行英文名称：UBS AG总部地点：瑞士(Switzerland)上市地点：VTX股票代码：UBSN


General Electric's finance arm holds a lot of junk. Literally. To meet investor demand for more details about GE Capital, managers held an investor day Thursday, during which they gave out much new, and welcome, information about the unit's $637 billion of assets. One detail: Large amounts of GE Capital's loans are to borrowers with junk, or sub-investment-grade, ratings. For instance, 81% of the $55 billion of equipment leases in the Americas is to borrowers below investment grade, and 40% are rated B+ or lower. On the $38 billion leveraged loan book, 76% of the borrowers are rated below B+, and 28% are below B-. Granted, these types of lending have traditionally been to companies with less-then-stellar ratings, so GE has experience in handling them. And if a borrower defaults, GE can seize hard assets that will offset losses. Even so, recessions hit junk-rated borrowers hard -- and hurt even the most seasoned lenders. GE Capital holds reserves against defaults, but they may need to be higher. For instance, management is expecting $333 million of credit losses on its leveraged loans in 2009 -- less than 1% of the total amount. The unit aims to have reserves at 1.2% of the book this year. GE Capital's consumer portfolio also contains a lot of loans to lower-grade borrowers. The company said 58% of its $183 billion in consumer loans were to prime borrowers, implying a sizable 42% were to non-prime borrowers. The big question about GE is whether it will have to raise more capital to absorb losses at GE Capital. The latest disclosures suggest that it will. Peter Eavis