GE to End Government Loan Backing
General Electric Co., the largest user of a government program to guarantee corporate debt, said it had begun to wean itself from the federal assistance.</br></br>GE, which tapped the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantees after credit markets seized up last fall, said it would stop using the guarantee on short-term loans known as commercial paper and would restrict its use of the guarantee for longer-term debt.</br></br>"The markets are recovering," said Kathryn Cassidy, GE senior vice president and treasurer, in an interview. "We would like to see us return to a regular market funding rather than using the government guarantee."</br></br>In one sign of GE's improved health, the company raised nearly $3 billion in nonguaranteed debt this week.</br></br>Analysts and investors said GE's motivations were more complex, as the firm seeks to fend off potential new federal regulations and criticism from some business partners about its reliance on the government program.