GE keeps working on business capital

US giant finds volume in the UK market.

GE Capital's buyout of P&P, on behalf of its ITS business division, continues the US giant's expansion into Europe and into the UK, in particular.

The $6 billion company went on the offensive into the reseller market in July 1996 when it purchased Ameridata Global's international operations and set up its UK shop off the back of Ameridata's offices. Since then, it has slowly picked off smaller resellers around Europe as well as some international companies, including Ferntree Computer in Australia and TMS in Canada.

Although GE Capital's intentions to buy into the European reseller market had been made public, the company has remained secretive in its manoeuvers.

So much so that it originally denied the speculation over its interest in P&P, despite being approached by PC Dealer on several occasions concerning the matter.

Speaking on the UK future of GE Capital, recently appointed UK CEO Jeremy Golding said GE's immediate plans were to fuse P&P with the rest of the organisation and to invest heavily in the subsidiary, which he perceived as having been starved of resources prior to the buyout.

'We will take the strength of both organisations and integrate those strengths. The lack of investment in P&P has been well documented. We will change all that and the unit will have the backing of the whole GE Capital organisation,' Golding said. He declined to comment on projected revenue in the UK for the expanded reseller for the forthcoming year.

Talk of an impending war breaking out among GE Capital and other big players in the UK market, such as Computacenter has been rife in the channel, but Golding dismissed it out of hand. 'The market is big enough,' he retorted.

GE Capital Information Technology Solutions was created in November 1996, following purchases of Ameridata Technologies, Australian integrator Ferntree Computer, Compunet in Germany and TMS-Canada, also a systems integrator.