GE inks $21 billion biopharma sale to Danaher in U-turn under Culp

General Electric said on Monday it would sell its biopharma business to Danaher Corp for $21.4 billion in the biggest strategy reversal since Lawrence Culp took over as the industrial conglomerate's chief executive in September. The biopharma sale also propelled a broad rally in GE's roughly $120 billion of bonds, which had taken a pounding in late 2018 as it became clear that earlier restructuring efforts were falling short and that the company would need to take more aggressive action to address its debt load in particular. This would mean that GE is likely to retain access to the earnings and cash flows of the remaining healthcare businesses for a longer period of time, alleviating some cash concerns, even as the power business struggles, said Rene Lipsch, lead GE analyst at Moody's. "These are really complementary businesses when you look across the portfolio of the product line on GE biopharma's side and our side," said Danaher's Chief Executive Officer Thomas Joyce on a call with analysts.