Aussie, US firms jointly bid for GE Money's Australia unit

Melbourne

WESFARMERS Ltd and Apollo Global Management LLC have made a joint bid for General Electric Co's (GE) Australian consumer-finance arm, which may fetch as much as A$1.5 billion (S$1.62 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said.

Macquarie Group Ltd submitted an indicative offer with York Capital Management and Pepper Australia for the GE Money unit, while buyout firm KKR & Co teamed with FlexiGroup Ltd and Varde Partners, the people said. Private-equity group TPG Capital made a bid with sovereign wealth fund backing, one of the people said.