BANKING & FINANCE - Sept. 2, 1994

GE Denies Talks on American Express Bid: General Electric Co. denied a published report that its GE Capital Services unit may be seeking to acquire American Express Co. Business Week magazine reported that a senior American Express employee and an investment banker, both unidentified, said the GE unit approached American Express about a possible merger. Analysts said GE might have to pay as much as $20 billion for the credit card company, which has a current market value of about $14 billion, the magazine said. It also said GE may be particularly interested in American Express’ IDS Financial Services Inc., a mutual fund company managing $103 billion in assets.