Mubadala and GE move ahead on joint venture

Mubadala Development and General Electric (GE) yesterday appointed chief executives for an US$8 billion (Dh29.38bn) commercial finance joint venture and an executive education centre as part of a partnership in which Mubadala will become one of GE’s largest shareholders.

The executive teams for the commercial finance and executive education ventures, announced last year, were mostly in place and operations at both should begin this summer, Khaldoon al Mubarak, the chief executive of Mubadala, said yesterday.
“The plan is what it was 12 months ago and we are moving swiftly forwards,” Mr al Mubarak said.

Ron Herman, a 25-year GE veteran, is to lead the commercial finance venture, a funding arm to which GE and Mubadala will each contribute $4bn.
Most recently, he was the chief executive of GE Equity, the company’s private equity financing unit.