GE restructures, but investors still on edge

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) kicked off a major round of restructuring on Friday, giving its booming infrastructure business -- which is riding a wave of emerging-market investment in energy and aviation projects -- a more prominent role, and combining its sprawling finance operations into one unit.

The moves, which also set the stage for the planned spin-off of GE's historic $13 billion appliance and lighting unit, will not silence calls on Wall Street for the second-largest U.S. company by market capitalization to revamp itself and spark its moribund shares, investors said.

But it could signal the start of a more extensive revamp, including a broader pull back from the volatile consumer finance market and a disposition of NBC Universal

media, analysts and investors said.

"It doesn't take the pressure off," said Peter Sorrentino, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, which manages $6.5 billion in assets and counts GE among its holdings.

"These businesses, I don't care what buckets you put them in, we want results," Sorrentino said. "I don't care how you organize the deck chairs, is the boat sinking or are we running at full throttle?"

SIX UNITS TO FOUR

The moves combine what had been six GE segments, into four.