General Electric Co. ( ) and Fanuc announced that they have agreed to dissolve the GE Fanuc Automation Corporation joint venture. The companies expect the transaction to be completed by the end of 2009, subject to customary closing conditions.

GE Fanuc was established in 1986 by joint investments of both companies and became a high-performance technology enterprise serving energy, water, consumer packaged goods, government & defense, and telecommunications industries. It delivers hardware and software solutions, services, automation and embedded computing systems as well as CNC products.

Under the terms of the agreement, GE retains the software, services, embedded systems and control systems businesses globally. The company will be known as GE Intelligent Platforms, and will be led by CEO Maryrose Sylvester. Fanuc retains the global CNC business.

Fanuc, headquartered on the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan, is the most diversified manufacturer of Factory Automation, robots and Robomachines in the world.

GE is a global infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. With products and services ranging from aircraft engines, power generation, water processing, and security technology to medical imaging, business and consumer financing, media content and industrial products, it serves customers in more than 100 countries and employ more than 300,000 people worldwide.? It competes with conglomerates such as Siemens ( ) and Philips ( ).

We currently have a Neutral recommendation on GE.