On November 5, 2014, Emmanuel Macron, French Minister of Economy, gave his green light to the takeover of General Electric (GE) on Alstom Energy division.
The agreement in principle between the companies should lead to a detailed agreement in a few months. The parties have been enjoined to take corrective actions by European Commission, which is concerned about the impact of the agreement on competition, in particular on the gas turbines market.
European Commission wants the purchase price to be reduced. The American company offered 12.35 billions dollars, for all Alstom Energy division, which represents 70% of Alstom’s turnover. The Commission demands a 300 millions euros reduction.
For the record, GE and Alstom will create three joint ventures, owned on a 50/50 basis, which activities will be renewable energies, power grids, and steam turbines.
The agreement involved the takeover of Rail signalling GE’s division by Alstom, in order to develop its Transport division.
