GE's $1.7 Billion Interest Agreement With Shinsei Hits 2013 Earnings

General Electric Co. said a subsidiary will pay $1.7 billion to Shinsei Bank Ltd. under an agreement related to interest payments made by customers of a Japanese consumer-finance business that General Electric Capital Corp. sold to the bank in 2008.

The U.S. industrial conglomerate said in a release Wednesday that the agreement will reduce its fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 net earnings by $1 billion. The deal also will cut GE's net earnings per diluted share by nine cents for those periods, the company said.

GE said its operating earnings for the quarter--53 cents a share--and the year remain unchanged. It added that the agreement won't affect the company's first-quarter or full-year 2014 results.

GE said the agreement resolves obligations linked to the reimbursement of Japan-based Shinsei for refunds of interest payments in excess of the statutory rate--referred to by GE as "grey zone" interest claims--that were made by customers of the Japanese consumer-finance business.

The U.S. company said GECC will record an addition to reserves in discontinued operations of $1 billion for 2013. Last month, the conglomerate said its fourth-quarter net profit rose 4.8% as revenue improved 3.1%.

GE said GECC and Shinsei, as part of the 2008 deal, agreed to a loss-sharing arrangement for potential interest claims, with a buyout option to end the obligation in the first quarter of this year.

Shinsei bought GE's Japanese consumer-finance business for $5.4 billion in 2008, at a time when a freshly restructured Shinsei was struggling to carve out a niche in the Japanese banking industry.

Shares of GE were inactive premarket. The stock, which closed at $25.27 Tuesday, is down 9.9% so far this year.

Michael Calia contributed to this article.

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