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Siemens' bid for Alstom

May 27, 2014

Germany's Siemens wants to acquire the French industrial giant Alstom, but it needs a bit more time to come up with an offer Alstom can't refuse. Siemens' American rival General Electric is also making a bid.

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Deutschland Wirtschaft Siemens Halbjahres-Pressekonferenz Joe Kaeser
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

German industrial giant Siemens said Tuesday it will make a formal offer to acquire France's Alstom by June 16.

Speaking at a meeting with government officials in Paris, the head of Siemens France, Christophe de Maistre, said the goal was to create two European engineering champions, with Siemens absorbing Alstom's energy activities and Alstom taking the lead in the trains business, which would be transferred from Siemens.

The offer was originally anticipated for the end of this week.

GE's Immelt next in Paris

Alstom is already in talks with General Electric from the United States. GE has extended the deadline on its 12.35 billion euro ($16.8 billion) all-cash offer for Alstom until June 23.

GE CEO Jeff Immelt is scheduled to meet with French parliamentarians and French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday to discuss the deal.

Alstom CEO Patrick Kron has said he favors the GE offer, but Paris is wary of letting Alstom be taken over by the American company and passed legislation last month allowing it more say in deals impacting strategic sectors.

Siemens' delay in making an offer comes after reports that the German company was about to offer less than 7 billion euros in cash plus its trains business in exchange for Alstom's power assets.

kpc/cjc (Reuters, dpa)