“So when he was running health care — a guy who wasn’t a health care guy but an M&A guy — one could draw the conclusion<br />that he was preparing it for some sort of action that would maximize shareholder value.”<br />The health care division is still very much a part of G. E.<br />But analysts say that with pressure coming from investors — including the activist hedge fund Trian Partners, led by the<br />billionaire Nelson Peltz — health care could once again be a target for a sale or a spinoff sooner rather than later.<br />In an interview, Mr. Flannery said he had had “no interaction with President Trump,” adding<br />that the administration’s proposals to cut taxes and spend on infrastructure represented an “agenda” that G. E.<br />But Mr. Flannery suggested that he would try to steer clear of politics as he conducted his review of the company.<br />And analysts spoke approvingly of his behind-the-scenes maneuvering in various G. E.<br />deals — particularly the $13.5 billion agreement two years ago to take over the power business of the French giant Alstom and the spinoff<br />that year of G. E.’s consumer finance arm, Synchrony Financial.<br />“What has always struck me about his background is that he ran G. E.’s business development — that is G. E.<br />shorthand for mergers and acquisitions,” said Deane Dray, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.<br />There, under the direction of Mr. Immelt to transform the company<br />and shed various businesses, Mr. Flannery negotiated the Alstom deal in France and also spun off Synchrony and sold off G. E.’s refrigerator business.
