FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019 The Boston Globe Business B
TALKING POINTS
INDUSTRY Agenda
GE’S LATEST SALES
PIECE: A SLICE OF ITS
AVIATION LENDING
BUSINESS
General Electric’s once-vast empire continues to shrink,
this time with the sale of an aviation lending business
based in Luxembourg. GE Capital announced a deal on
Thursday to sell the business, called PK AirFinance, to
private equity firms Apollo Global Management and
Athene Holding. Apollo will buy the PK AirFinance lend-
ing platform, while Athene will acquire the division’s
loan portfolio. Terms of the deals were not disclosed, but
GE said that the $3.6 billion worth of assets held by PK AirFinance are being sold for a price
above their book value. (Previous reports had indicated the business could be sold for about
$4 billion.) Larry Culp, chief executive of Boston-based GE, has made it clear he wants to
shrink the size of GE Capital to better focus the division on helping GE’s industrial clients.
This deal puts GE halfway toward its goal of reducing GE Capital’s size, as measured by as-
sets, by $10 billion in 2019. PK AirFinance ispart of GECAS, GE’s aircraft lending unit, but
is actually a different business: GECAS buys jets and leases them to airlines, while PK AirFi-
nance arranges loans that are secured by aircraft and aircraft engines. Culp has no plans to
sell GECAS, considered one of GE’s crown jewels. — JON CHESTORETAILING
CLEANUP IN AISLE 3;
FISTFIGHT IN AISLE 8;
CHAOS THROUGHOUT
FIRST COSTCO IN
CHINA
The United States and China may be involved in a trade war, but the Chinese shoppers at an
American wholesaler were at war with each other this week, in a pitched battle complete
with pushing, brawling, and meat cleavers. The opening of the first Costco store in China,
in the commercial capital of Shanghai, was a scene of chaos. Shoppers queued for hours to
get into the store upon opening, ducking under the roller door as it inched up from the
ground. They wrestled for detergent and grabbed at a piece of pork with their bare hands,
even as the butcher was trying to cut it up. There was a three-hour wait for a space in the
parking lot, and sometimes longer in the line for checkout. By the afternoon, the store was
in such chaos that it had to close early. — WASHINGTON POSTFOOD
ANTI-GMO GROUP
CHALLENGES PLAN TO
SELL IMPOSSIBLE
BURGERS IN
SUPERMARKETS
The Impossible Burger plans to be on supermarket shelves as soon as next month, but an
environmental group is trying to stand in its way. Friends of the Earth filed an objection to
Impossible Foods’ grocery store plan, arguing that the faux meat maker’s “magic ingredi-
ent,” soy leghemoglobin or “heme,” has not been adequately tested for safety because only
the company has done assessments. Heme is made with a genetically modified yeast, and
Friends of the Earth objects to the use of GMOs in the food supply, citing safety concerns.
Heme is the ingredient that gives the Impossible Burger its meat-like flavor. Last summer,
the US Food and Drug Administration, followingyears of back-and-forth, declined to chal-
lenge findings voluntarily presented by the company that the cooked product is “Generally
Recognized as Safe,” or GRAS. Such a “no questions” letter means the FDA found the infor-
mation provided to be sufficient. — BLOOMBERG NEWSRECYCLING
TURNING PLASTIC
BACK INTO OIL
Dow Inc. is partnering with the Dutch developer of a method for turning plastic trash back
into oil as the global chemical powerhouse seeks to expand recycling amid rising alarm over
pollution. Fuenix Ecogy Group has created a method for breaking down plastic into a form
that can be used in a fresh round of manufacturing. Dow plans to implement the process at
its plant in Terneuzen, the Netherlands, and make it a recycling mainstay, the companies
said Thursday. — BLOOMBERG NEWSPERSONAL FINANCE
AVERAGE 401 (K)
BALANCE ROSE 2
PERCENT IN SECOND
QUARTER
Retirement savers have eked out steady gains this year, even as the stock market turned in-
creasingly volatile amid uncertainty over the trade war between the United States and Chi-
na and fear of a global economic slowdown. The average 401(k) plan balance rose 2 percent
to $106,000 in the second quarter versus a year earlier, according to data from Fidelity In-
vestments drawn from more than 30 million retirement plan accounts. In 2016, about 55
million American workers were active 401(k) participants, according to the Investment
Company Institute. Most of the gains came from employees setting aside more of their pay
for their retirement plans. The average employee contribution rate rose to 8.8 percent in
the second quarter, a record level. — BLOOMBERG NEWSBANKING
BANK OF AMERICA
TARGETS WORLD’S
RICHEST FAMILIES
Bank of America Corp. is building its teams focused on the world’s wealthiest family offices,
buyout firms, and sovereign wealth funds to take advantage of a surge in dealmaking. The
Charlotte, N.C.-based firm has made a series of senior appointments in recent months and
put some of its top bankers on a new Global Private Capital Council. The moves give the bank
a more formal structure to identify business from deep-pocketed investors, said Luigi Rizzo,
head of investment banking for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. — BLOOMBERG NEWSHOUSING
THE SUBURBS ARE
HOT AGAIN AS CITIES
OUTPRICE RESIDENTS
The suburbs are back. For most of the past five years, home buyers have flocked to vibrant
sections of cities where they can walk to agrocery store, restaurants, and shops. But new
data from Redfin Corp. show that soaring home prices are starting to pump the brakes on
that trend, because people simply can’t afford to live in places where they don’t need a car.
Sale prices in “walkable” neighborhoods climbed 2.3 percent in the year ended in July,
while those where residents need a vehicle to run errands rose 4.3 percent, the company
found. The trend was particularly stark in high-cost coastal metros, including Seattle and
San Jose, Calif., where values fell in walkable areas year-over-year, but rose in car-depen-
dent neighborhoods. Homes in walkable neighborhoods were on average about $30,
costlier. — BLOOMBERG NEWSAUTOMOTIVE
GM EMPLOYS FEWER
UNION WORKERS
THAN US RIVALS
General Motors Co. now employs fewer
union-represented US workers than its do-
mestic rivals for the first time since the Unit-
ed Auto Workers started organizing Detroit’s
carmakers eight decades ago. GM’s 46,
UAW workers trails Ford Motor Co. by about
9,000 and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV by
roughly 1,200, according to head counts by
the companies. Fiat Chrysler overtook the
No. 2 spot this year. — BLOOMBERG NEWSSaturdaySEMINAR
Build your bud
business over brews
Learn how to start your own marijuana
co-op at this talk from the Massachusetts
Recreational Consumer Council and pub
Democracy Brewing. Co-ops are licensed
to cultivate, obtain, manufacture, process,
package, and brand cannabis before
delivering it to shops. Saturday, 6 to 8:
p.m., 35 Temple Place, Boston. $15.
Register online or go to the business
agenda at bostonglobe.com.CLASS
Be financially literate
Find out how to be fiscally responsible at
this workshop from the Boston Financial
Learning Center. Topics include debt
management, retirement planning, and
college planning. Saturday, 10 a.m. to
noon, 1200 Hancock St., Suite 304,
Quincy. Free. Register online or go to the
business agenda at bostonglobe.com.SundayGIVEAWAY
Grab sidewalk swag
Get almost anything you need for your
home — from furniture, to air
conditioners, to cookware — during the
annual unofficial “Allston Christmas”
event. On Sept. 1 every year, a staggering
proportion of Boston’s student leases
start and end. Anything that students
can’t take with them ends up on the
sidewalks of Allston, free for the taking.
Sunday, all day, Allston and surrounding
neighborhoods. Free. Learn about moving
in Boston on the city’s official website or
go to the business agenda at
bostonglobe.com.JOBS
Count yourself in
Learn how to get a job with the US
Census Bureau at this information session
from community space Make-It
Springfield. A recruiter will answer
questions. Attendees will need to bring an
ID and a device for accessing the Internet
such as a smartphone or laptop. Resumes
are encouraged but not required. Sunday,
12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Make-It Springfield,
168 Worthington St., Springfield. Free.
Register online or go to the business
agenda at bostonglobe.com.Eventsofnote?E-mailusat
[email protected]