General Electric completed a split Tuesday that spun off GE Vernova as an independent company.

The latest spin-off leaves the Boston-headquartered firm's aviation division to operate as the standalone entity GE Aerospace. Both GE Vernova and GE Aerospace have a presence at a Castle Hayne facility at 3901 Castle Hayne Road. 

The spin-off of another now independent public business, GE HealthCare, took place last year. The move to spin off divisions as independent entities was announced in 2021 after more than a decade of losses for conglomerate General Electric. The split aimed to help the company improve its financial standing and attract investors.

Effective at market opening on Tuesday, GE Vernova began trading as an independent company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “GEV.” GE Aerospace is now trading under the ticker symbol “GE.” Representatives from both companies rang the opening bell together to open trading on Tuesday.

As approved by the GE Board of Directors earlier this year, all GE common stockholders are now entitled to receive one share of GE Vernova common stock for every four shares of GE common stock.

“Today, GE Vernova becomes an independent company singularly focused on accelerating the energy transition to create a more sustainable future,” Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova, wrote in a company-issued release. 

“Our power, wind and electrification segments provide essential products and services to the electric power industry as we work to meet the growing power demands of economies and deliver electricity that is vital to health, safety, security and improved quality of life,” he continued. 

“GE Vernova is purpose-built to electrify and decarbonize the world, and I’m incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished with this milestone and excited to continue this journey alongside our customers and shareholders.”

The Castle Hayne facility will continue to support its customers under the new energy-focused entity, according to Jon Allen, a local spokesperson for GE Vernova. 

“GE’s nuclear energy business broke ground here in 1967 and today we look forward to the future as part of GE Vernova, a company purpose-built to electrify and decarbonize the world,” Allen wrote in an email on Tuesday to the Business Journal.

GE Vernova is in the process of growing its presence at the Castle Hayne facility. In 2022, the company announced its plans to expand operations at the plant by adding nearly 500 jobs over the next five years. Last year alone, the company hired about 200 new employees to support its ongoing growth.

Global Nuclear Fuel and TerraPower, a Bill Gates-founded nuclear innovation company, announced an agreement to build the Natrium Fuel Facility at the Castle Hayne plant in 2022. Construction of the Natrium fuel facility is expected to begin in 2026.

In February, GE Vernova announced it secured regulatory approval to handle fuel with higher enrichment levels, allowing the company to broaden its product offerings and serve the industry with “advanced fuel products,” Allen said at the time.

GE Vernova has more than 80,000 employees across more than 100 countries along with “an installed base of over 7,000 gas turbines, approximately 55,000 wind turbines, and leading-edge electrification technology, GE Vernova helps generate approximately 30% of the world’s electricity,” Tuesday’s release stated.

GE Aerospace Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp Jr. called Tuesday’s spin-off a “defining moment" for the company.

“With the successful launch of GE Aerospace and GE Vernova as independent, public companies now complete – today marks the historic final step in the multi-year transformation of GE,” Culp wrote in a GE Aerospace release issued Tuesday. “I am tremendously proud of our teams, their resilience and dedication to achieving this defining moment.”

The spin-off will not impact GE Aerospace operations at the Castle Hayne facility, according to a company spokesperson.

Ahead of Tuesday’s spin-off, Ohio-headquartered GE Aerospace announced plans in March to invest $22 million in machines and specialized tooling at the Wilmington facility to increase capacity and make building improvements.

The Wilmington plant plays a “critical role” in producing parts that go into commercial and military engines, according to a company spokesperson. The local funding is part of a planned $450 million investment in 22 GE Aerospace facilities across 14 states.

GE Aerospace has an installed base of approximately 44,000 commercial engines and approximately 26,000 military and defense engines worldwide. The company generated approximately $32 billion of revenue in 2023, with 70% generated by services, according to Tuesday’s news release.