GE to Cut Stake in Genworth to 51 Pct BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) on Monday said it would sell up to 82 million shares of Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , cutting GE's stake to 51 percent from 70 percent in the insurer that it spun off last year. The secondary offering is part of GE's ongoing plan to pare back its insurance business in favor of consumer and commercial finance, which offer better returns on capital. GE said it will use proceeds from its sales to eliminate "parent-supported" debt at GE Capital, allowing that unit to increase the dividend it pays GE to 40 percent of its earnings from the current 10 percent from the second quarter. At Genworth's current share price, 82 million common shares of the insurer would be worth nearly $2.4 billion. The industrial, financial and media giant held about $4 billion of its financial unit's debt on the parent company's books in 2004, but plans to eliminate those liabilities this year. Shares of Genworth fell 3 cents at $28.72 in early afternoon New York Stock Exchange trade, while GE shares was a penny higher at $36.13. GE plans to sell the shares through a secondary public offering and a sale to Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (C.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , which intends to offer a security exchangeable for Genworth Class A shares. At the same time as the share sale, Genworth would buy $400 million to $500 million of Genworth class B shares directly from GE at the net price of the secondary offering, the company said. Genworth's secondary offering is part of GE's plan to improve cash flow from operating activities over the next few years with increased dividends from its financial units. The company forecasts cash flow from operating activities, which excludes cash flow from its financial services businesses, to rise to as much as $24 billion in 2007 from $15 billion in 2004. Separately, GE said earlier on Monday it cut more than $1 billion off its originally reported consolidated cash flow for both 2003 and 2002 in response to concerns from U.S. securities regulators that some companies have not properly classified financing they provide to customers for purchases. GE said the change was immaterial since most of its investors use the non-consolidated cash flow from operating activities to measure the company's results and that number would remain unchanged. Quelle "GE to Cut Stake in Genworth to 51 Pct" : reuters.com Main page for "GE to Cut Stake in Genworth to 51 Pct"