By Linda Chiem (June 8, 2015, 8:39 PM EDT) -- General Electric Co. is near an agreement to sell its private equity lending unit to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Canada's largest pension fund, as GE accelerates plans to shed most of its finance operations, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. CPPIB, Canada's largest pension fund manager, has reportedly been working with Credit Suisse Group AG on a deal, which would include assets of more than $10 billion, according to the WSJ. The unit had also attracted bids from Apollo Global Management LLC, Ares Management LP and Guggenheim Securities LLC. Rumors of the near-deal comes a week after GE officially put the U.S. commercial lending and leasing unit of GE Capital Corp. up for sale, following through with plans to divest most of its financing arm as the conglomerate looks to streamline operations. The unit — which provides financing to midmarket companies to purchase or lease equipment, manage vehicle fleets and for leveraged buyouts — could reportedly bring in as much as $17 billion for GE. The company is looking to unload most of GE Capital, which took a hit during the financial crisis and was later tagged as a a "too-big-to-fail" financial institution by federal regulators, opening it up to Federal Reserve supervision....