The secret weapon of General Electric to provide Alstom
Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, has an appointment Thursday afternoon with Arnaud Montebourg, the Minister of Economy, to finalize the negotiation of a new offer.
General Electric does not intend to let the energy industry 's Alstom escape. The American group since late April offers to buy EUR 12.35 billion, but the French government "unacceptable as is" this offer. Arnaud Montebourg afford the retoquer and the emergence of a rival project with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries .
Jeff Immelt , CEO of GE, has an appointment on Thursday afternoon with the Minister of Economy to finalize the negotiation of a new offer. It will offer him to yield to Alstom Transport activity railway signaling GE, whose turnover is estimated at 600 million euros, against 1.4 billion to Alstom signs. Moreover, it will forgo to buy all the energy of the French group, which he proposes to remain a shareholder of the grid branch (transmission networks). Both changes go beyond the promises made by Jeff Immelt Francois Hollande on April 29, and could allow the government to present the new offer as a political victory. Still waiting Bercy guarantees on turbines for nuclear power plants, and GE had promised significant.
Some worry the conditions laid down by Mitsubishi
They were freed from the threat of a veto of Bercy, the directors of Alstom could vote Monday entered into exclusive negotiations with GE. This scenario seems more probable that some of them are concerned about the conditions laid down by Mitsubishi in the project. According to a paper Le Figaro was able to consult, the Japanese group, which proposes to buy 2.3 billion euros 40% of the steam turbines Alstom activity requires a veto to the participation of this joint venture to any tender exceeding an important threshold. According to Alstom, Mitsubishi is present on the market for steam turbines, and the risk of conflict of interest is important. In the entourage of the CEO of Mitsubishi, which had denied any veto Figaro , it ensures that this is negotiable.
In addition, the draft Mitsubishi to buy 10% of Bouygues, Alstom (the 29.3% held by the group BTP) is subject to the entry BpiFrance in Alstom at a level at least equal and conclusion of a shareholders' agreement. However, France has not yet officially supported such a project.