Synchrony (SYF) Financial, the consumer credit business being spun off by General Electric Co. (GE), is seeking to raise as much as $3.25 billion in its U.S. initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing today.

Synchrony, whose products include store credit cards for retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney Co., is offering 125 million shares for $23 to $26 apiece, the filing shows.

The spinoff is part of GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt’s bid to shrink the share of earnings coming from GE’s finance arm, which imperiled the Fairfield, Connecticut-based parent company during the 2008-09 financial crisis. GE has been shedding real estate holdings and stakes in foreign banks while expanding the industrial business through moves including the almost $17 billion acquisition of Alstom SA’s energy assets.

GE will own 85 percent of Synchrony after the offering, the prospectus shows. In the second step of the separation, Synchrony’s remaining shares will be distributed to GE stockholders in a tax-free transaction.

Synchrony will use proceeds from the IPO to repay debt to the parent company and increase its capital, filings show.

The company will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SYF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley are managing the offering.

Bloomberg