Siemens Bids to Buy Alstom Gas Turbine Business German Move Potentially Spoils $17 Billion Bid From General Electric
An Alstom employee inspects the wiring on a turbine at Alstom SA's turbine refurbishment plant in Rugby, U.K,. The battle for Alstom intensified after Siemens AG said Monday it had officially bid for the gas turbine business. Bloomberg News FRANKFURT—German engineering company Siemens AG SIE.XE +0.02% Monday said it had officially bid to buy the gas turbine business of French rival Alstom SA, ALO.FR -0.90% potentially spoiling a rival $17 billion bid for all of Alstom's energy business from U.S. industrial giant General Electric Co. GE -1.02%
More At a Glance: Takeover Saga Siemens said it had offered Alstom roughly €3.9 billion ($5.3 billion) for its gas turbine business, including related service contracts, and proposed establishing joint ventures in other sectors and transfer of its rail business to Alstom as elements of the bid. The announcement confirms preliminary terms of the offer reported by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
"Our offer preserves the brand Alstom in substantial parts and altogether it's about €1 billion better financially [than GE's bid]," said Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser.
The Siemens offer is part of a broader deal that also involves Japanese peers Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. 7011.TO -3.67% and Hitachi Ltd. 6501.TO 0.00% , which have a joint venture in power systems that they are proposing would invest in several of Alstom's power plant component and transmission businesses.
The German-Japanese offer for one of France's industrial leaders comes after weeks of uncertainty whether Siemens would place a formal bid. Alstom and GE in April revealed they were near to a deal for GE to buy Alstom's energy business. The plan was opposed by politicians in Paris who fear letting an American company take control of a strategic national asset and so invited Siemens to make a counteroffer for Alstom.
The chief executives of Siemens and Mitsubishi will on Tuesday address a French parliamentary committee to explain their proposal.
GE has set a deadline of next Monday for Alstom to formally accept or reject its offer.
