GE Capital halts inventory financing program
No new credit lines offered
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 1, 2008
CHICAGO — GE Capital Solutions confirmed today that it is cutting back its inventory financing program to the furniture industry.
"Due to current economic and market conditions, a strategic decision has been made to reduce our unsecured inventory financing exposure in the furniture industry,” the company said in an e-mail response to a Furniture/Today inquiry.
Effective immediately, GE is no longer offering new credit lines under an unsecured inventory finance program, the company said in the e-mail.
“We are currently evaluating all existing customers on the unsecured program and they will be given reasonable time frames to make other arrangements for financing,” it said.
GE didn’t respond immediately to a request for more information on the number of furniture companies affected or the amount of inventory financing exposure it has with the industry. The company said its Commercial Distribution Finance arm “continuously monitors the industry and markets in which we operate.”
It said in the e-mail that GE “continues to offer a wide variety of financing programs in the furniture industry and this will not affect business that our inventory financing customers may have with GEMoney, other GE or CDF divisions, and the furniture buying groups.”
