Alstom accepted the offer dto over 12 billion dollars di General Electric, which aims to buy the energy division of the French group. This was reported by sources in the international press, specifying that the go-ahead from the Board of Directors was unanimous. The news should be made official today.
The French company, after a request for clarification from the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), had undertaken to publish an official communication on the matter by tomorrow's stock market opening in Paris, announcing that in the meantime its stock would remained suspended from listing, again at the request of the AMF.
A commitment to which Alstom was reminded in the evening by the Authority, which readmitted the stock to trading for today, but also officially requested that the markets be informed of the offers received.
The feasibility of the operation, in any case, is not yet certain, since the Government of Paris it could intervene to avoid the sale to the US giant of a business branch considered strategic for the French economy.
Ge's rival in the takeover, the German Siemens, made it known that he intends to make a counter-proposal, clarifying that a formal offer will depend on the possibility of accessing Alstom's non-public data within a month.
French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg is pushing for an extension of the negotiations, clearly in favor of the German group. Already over the weekend Montebourg had put a brake on the negotiations, expressing concern that Alstom's energy division, which is equivalent to 75% of its business, could be managed from Connecticut, where General Electric is headquartered.
Meanwhile, Siemens is not standing by and is targeting the division of the British Rolls-Royce that produces turbines for the generation of energy, one of the materials that Alstom also manufactures. Also yesterday evening the news was released of ongoing negotiations between the two companies: according to the first rumors, Siemens would have offered the British group 1,38 billion dollars.
