WSJ: UPDATE: GE To Buy Mining Supplier Industrea For Almost $700 Million

   By Drew FitzGerald and Kate Linebaugh 
   Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 
 

General Electric Co. (GE) agreed to buy Australia-based mining-equipment maker Industrea Ltd. (IDL.AU) for about A$700 million ($696.6 million), adding to its footprint in a fast-growing sector.

The industrial conglomerate also agreed to acquire privately held equipment maker Fairchild International, a U.S. mining supplier, for an undisclosed amount.

GE touted both acquisitions as a way to take advantage of growing mining in Australia, China and the U.S. The deals expand GE's breadth of product offerings to address about 35% of the underground mining value chain, the company said.

GE expects its business in Australia this year to be bigger than China as part of its strategy to piggyback on booming growth in resource-rich countries. The approach is based on a bet that the price of energy and minerals will remain strong and there will be a market for GE's industrial products like compressors, locomotives and power generators.

"This is a sector that we are interested in. We think it has good prospects," Lorenzo Simonelli, who heads GE's transportation unit, said in an interview. Simonelli has been tasked with expanding GE's locomotive and transportation business globally and expanding into new applications such as mining.

GE is creating a new mining business that draws on various products across its portfolio such as power generation equipment and water processing. That is now under Simonelli's purview, he said.

GE's transportation business has been thriving amid a rise in locomotive sales. In the first quarter, profit in the business rose 48%, the highest of all of GE's divisions, to $232 million.

GE's shares were recently up 4 cents at $18.44 after hours. The stock has declined by about 7.5% over the past year.

-By Drew FitzGerald, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2909; [e-mail]

Order free Annual Report for General Electric Co.

Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=GE or call 1-888-301-0513

Order free Annual Report for INDUSTREA LTD

Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=IULTF or call 1-888-301-0513