General Electric’s (GE’s) sale of its biopharma unit on February 25 is designed to reduce the company’s overall debt load, and CEO Larry Culp said the deal is the latest step in his plan to strengthen the whole of GE, particularly the company’s struggling Power division.

GE on Monday agreed to sell the biopharma part of its life sciences business to Danaher Corp. for $ 21.4 billion. Washington, D.C.-based Danaher is the company Culp ran for about 13 years prior to joining GE.

Sale Strengthens Balance Sheet

“This news meaningfully accelerates our deleveraging plan,” Culp told Bloomberg after the deal was announced. “You can see the tide beginning to turn where we can really focus on a little less defense, a little more offense.” GE in November said it would reorganize GE Power into two businesses and consolidate the unit’s headquarters.

Shares in GE surged Monday, rising almost 9% to their highest level since October 2018. Culp, who took over as CEO on October 1 of last year, replacing John Flannery, in January said GE’s strategy moving forward “is clear: de-leverage our balance sheet and strengthen our businesses, starting with Power.…

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