GE to Buy Aegon’s Transamerica Assets

General Electric Co., the world’s largest non-bank financial company, agreed to buy most of Aegon’s Transamerica Finance unit for $1 billion in cash to expand its business of leasing equipment and lending money to manufacturers and retailers.

GE Commercial Finance also would repay $3.8 billion of the unit’s debt and take over some leasing obligations, bringing the value of the sale to $5.4 billion. The purchase extends General Electric’s buying spree this year to at least $9 billion.

Aegon, Europe’s third-largest insurer, is freeing up capital after three years of stock declines eroded reserves. It has been trying since 1999 to sell Transamerica Finance, a Chicago-based group of equipment-leasing and asset-backed lending businesses.

Shares of Fairfield, Conn.-based GE fell 68 cents to $27.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.