General Electric Co expects its GE Capital finance unit to be profitable in 2009, the U.S. conglomerate's chief financial officer said on Thursday.

He said that the company had run extensive stress tests on GE Capital's portfolio and found that even in its worst-case scenario GE would not see itself needing to raise capital.

GE Capital, which has businesses ranging from investing in commercial real estate to financing sales of heavy equipment made by the U.S. conglomerate, last year recorded profit of about $8.6 billion, about 33 percent of the GE total.

(Reporting by Scott Malone, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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