The French Government has struck a deal to buy a 20% stake in Alstom from the company’s biggest shareholder, Bouygues SA, thus lifting the last hurdle for General Electric (GE) to materialise the $17 billion purchase of Alstom SA’s energy assets.
According to the article on the Wall Street Journal, Bouygues’ agreement with the French state satisfied a condition set by the French Government to back GE’s offer, which had already been approved by Alstom’s board of directors on Saturday.
GE deal with Alstom will see the company acquire Alstom’s gas turbine operations and create joint ventures in the steam turbine, renewable energy and electrical-transmission businesses, while the French company will get GE’s rail-signaling operations for 602 million euros ($825 million).
German engineering giant Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries were also keen on acquiring the French multinational company’s energy business, but the French Government has firmly sided with GE’s offer — making a U-turn on its previous stance that it would not allow the deal to go through on the grounds jobs and decision-making could be lost.
