U.S. to back GE Capital debt
Conglomerate's finance arm wins approval to enter FDIC's bank debt guarantee bank program.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- GE Capital, the financing arm of conglomerate General Electric, is eligible for government backing of $139 billion of its debt, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
General Electric made the news public Wednesday in a letter to investors.
"It allows us to source our debt competitively with other financial institutions," said Russell Wilkerson, a GE spokesman.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. first unveiled the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program in mid-October to assure buyers of bank debt worried that they won't be paid back.
The program was initially only available to banks, thrifts and bank holding companies. Regulators later expanded the program to other financial institutions.
A call to the FDIC was not immediately returned.
GE Capital, which is involved in a number of financing activities including credit cards and real estate lending, has suffered amid the credit freeze.
GE (GE, Fortune 500) shares fell more than 8% on Wednesday. 
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