Sale of appliance arm to Electrolux cancelled: GE

General Electric announced today that it has decided to cancel the agreement to sell its appliance division to the Swedish group Electrolux which had offered last year to buy it for $3.3 billion (3.0 billion euros).

The US conglomerate said in a statement that it was still interested in selling the appliance division, while Electrolux, which had wanted the acquisition to make it one of the world leaders in the appliance sector, said it was "disappointed" by the GE decision.

GE also said it was owed a cancellation fee of 175 million dollars from Electrolux.

The deal had been blocked since July by the US Department of Justice, which said it feared that prices for gas or electric cookers would rise as a result of the merger giving the two groups' respective appliances brands, Electrolux and Whirlpool, market dominance.

Hearings opened last month and a final verdict had been expected by the end of this month or early January, the Swedish group said.

"Electrolux has made extensive efforts to obtain regulatory approvals, and regrets that GE has terminated the agreement while the court procedure is still pending," the Swedish company said in a statement.

Shares in Electrolux fell sharply on the Stockholm stock exchange in reaction to the announcement, trading down more than 13 per cent at 207.40 kronor in early business.