Alstom: government working on French consortium including CDC, Areva, Thales and Safran; Thales rejects claim – reports (translated)
The French government is understood to be trying to set up an alternative to the proposed EUR 12.35bn sale of the energy operations of Alstom to listed Connecticut-based conglomerate General Electric (GE), French weekly La Lettre de L’Expansion reported. The unsourced report said that French Finance and Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg is believed to be busy creating a consortium of French companies that could involve industrial groups Areva, Thales and Safran, as well as state-owned financial services group Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC). The report claimed that Thierry Breton has been acting as the adviser to Montebourg on that matter.
This development was also reported in daily Les Echos, which referred to comments made by Thales chairman and chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy, who denied that his group was involved in the matter and that Montebourg had contacted Thales.
He then added that Thales was looking for opportunities to acquire businesses, especially companies operating in the railway signaling sector.
Source La Lettre de l'Expansion, Les Echos