Siemens, Mitsubishi Heavy Prepare Joint Bid for Alstom Energy Assets
Mitsubishi Targets 10% Alstom Stake as Part of Offer
An Alstom employee inspects the wiring on a turbine at Alstom SA's turbine refurbishment plant in Rugby, U.K. Bloomberg News
FRANKFURT—German engineering company Siemens AG SIE.XE +0.01% and its Japanese peer Mitsubishi 7011.TO +0.77% Heavy Industries Ltd. plan Monday to make a joint offer for large chunks of Alstom SA ALO.FR +0.08% 's energy business, entering a bidding war with General Electric Co. GE +0.30% for one of France's industrial jewels, according to people familiar with the companies' plans.
As part of the offer, Mitsubishi aims to buy up to 10% of Alstom from Bouygues SA, EN.FR -0.70% which currently holds 29.3% of the company, two of the people said. French public investment bank BPI France would buy another portion of the Bouygues stake, potentially alongside the French government, these people said.
A Bouygues spokesman said Sunday that Mitsubishi hadn't approached the company to discuss an acquisition of its stake in Alstom. He reiterated that Bouygues is committed to keeping its stake in Alstom for the long run.
The terms of the proposal were still in flux Sunday before a meeting of Siemens's supervisory board, these people said.
As part of the planned offer, Siemens aims to transfer its rail business to Alstom, creating a European champion in train construction and rail engineering, the people familiar with the talks said.
A joint bid by Siemens and Mitsubishi could derail an earlier offer from GE, whose $17 billion for Alstom's energy assets has already been tentatively approved by the company. GE has set June 23 as a deadline for Alstom to formally approve its offer.
But approval of the GE bid by Alstom's board doesn't mean the U.S. powerhouse has already won the bidding war.
French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg has criticized the GE bid, saying it was unacceptable and threatened France's economic sovereignty. Mr. Montebourg has subsequently encouraged Siemens to make its own offer for Alstom's businesses, which also include a rail division that manufactures the TGV high-speed train.