General Electric Co is close to selling its European private equity financing unit to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) for more than $2 billion, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the U.S. industrial conglomerate sheds its financial assets amid a restructuring. SMBC will be buying a unit that has some 2 billion euros worth of loans that carry a wider spread margin than most corporate loans, the source said.