GE Capital Real Estate has unveiled plans to shrink its real estate holdings worldwide on the back of mounting losses in its commercial property portfolio.

GE Capital Real Estate has unveiled plans to shrink its real estate holdings worldwide on the back of mounting losses in its commercial property portfolio.

During a conference held last week, GE Capital's CEO Mike Neal announced plans to cut the industrial group's real estate exposure from $80 bn at present to around $40-50 bn worldwide.

The initiative is part of the conglomerate's major effort to re-focus on its core industrial business and reduce its financial investment arm, GE Capital.

'The thinking is to reduce property assets to $40-50 bn with more debt and less equity,' he said, without giving a timeframe for the plan.

GE Capital, which reported $400 mln of commercial real estate losses in Q1 2010, is also planning to move towards more of an asset management real estate model, Neal added.

The group has 30 real estate offices worldwide.