GE Refinances $5B in Bonds to Head Off ‘Fiscal Cliff;’ Keith Sherin Comments

With automatic tax increases and spending cuts under sequestration potentially coming into effect early next year, General Electric has refinanced $5 billion in bonds set to mature early next year, Financial Times reports.

Keith Sherin, GE’s chief financial officer, told the newspaper it took action on its balance sheet to avoid market turbulence.

GE is not the only company to initiate a large bond action within the past week as Oracle, United Healthcare and Switzerland-based mining firm Xstrata all sold $26 billion combined worth of investment grade bonds, FT reports, citing information service Dealogic.

Oracle sold $5 billion in corporate bonds to refinance existing debt and fund a share buyback program, the report said.

http://www.ge.com/company/leadership/bios_exec/keith_sherin.html