GE names banks for sale of Australia mortgage unit

SYDNEY, June 6 (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has appointed JP Morgan & Co and Citigroup to manage the possible sale of its Australian mortgage business, a spokesman for GE Money Australia said on Friday.

Wizard Home Loans, which GE bought from its founder Mark Bouris in 2004 for about A$500 million ($481 million), is a non-bank lender with some 250 branches.

"We appointed Citigroup and JP Morgan to jointly help us to determine our options and assess the best options for our review of the ownership," said Geoff Lynch, spokesman for GE's consumer finance unit.

Last month, GE said it was considering strategic options for Wizard.

"There will be local banks, and there will also be some interest from foreign banks," said one banking source with direct knowledge of the deal. He ruled out private equity interest in it.

He said the process could take a couple of months, while the seller would have to adjust to the changed market conditions.

"Obviously the market is quite different from when they bought it," the source said, when asked about the possible value the business could fetch.

Non-bank mortgage lenders have suffered in the fallout from the global credit crisis, which has pushed up borrowing costs. Non-bank lenders lack the access to low-cost deposits enjoyed by traditional banks. ($1=A$1.04) (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by James Thornhill)