So here's the scoop on Ron Herman, the new CEO of GE and Mubadala's $8bn commercial finance joint venture. Herman, who will head up one of Mubadala's richest investments, started at GE Capital, the conglomerate's financing arm, in 1984, according to a bio accompanying a presentation he gave last year. He next served in GE's corporate audit unit before becoming a manager of financial analysis and then vice president of private equity at GE Asset Management. While he was in the asset management unit during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he co-managed a high-yield portfolio that notched 34 per cent annual gains, the bio says.

In 1993, Mr Herman became general manager of corporate M&A, a position he stayed in for 10 years, presiding over deals worth around $10bn. He was appointed in 2003 as CEO and president of GE Equity, where he served until GE brought him in to lead its commercial finance venture with Mubadala.

Mr Herman had served on the board of directors of ShopNBC, a home shopping network that is part-owned by GE Equity. He decided not to stand for re-election to that board last year. He also once served as deputy chairman of AsiaSat, a Hong Kong-based satellite operator that GE acquired a 34 per cent stake in back in 2007. Also in 2007, he (along with three others) received a US patent for a process to integrate business systems in mergers.

I had a short chat today with Jeff Immelt, the chairman and chief executive of General Electric, and Khaldoon al Mubarak, the chief executive of Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's venture capital and investment arm. They announced today that they have assembled management teams for a $8bn commercial finance venture and an executive training centre. You can read about it here.

The commercial finance venture will be based on the GE Capital model, according to Mr al Mubarak. It'll also aim to drum up business in leasing, project finance and other areas worldwide - not just in the UAE or the Middle East. Both Mr Immelt and Mr al Mubarak said the venture was launching at an opportune time, when many other financial services companies are struggling. And both men said the agreement remains as it was last year, despite the financial crisis.

Here are a couple of quotes you won't see (at least not in full) in the web version.

Immelt: We outlined the general understanding last July, so we've been working since then to formalise the agreement. For the [commercial finance arm] we have a business plan, a team, we're developing a pipeline and we're going through a formal regulatory process, and by end of summer we should be moving forward.

Al Mubarak: We're very excited about this partnership. We're big fans of the GE Capital model ... We don't want to box in this joint venture as a UAE joint venture or a Middle East joint venture, and we're going to look at all the opportunities out there ... We've always been committed to this partnership with GE. It has always been a long term commitment based on sound fundamentals.

Also, for your enjoyment, the press release is after the jump.