General Electric Co, seeking France’s approval for its US$17 billion bid to buy Alstom SA’s energy division, said it plans to keep the power-equipment maker’s nuclear operations in its home country.
“We will answer the government’s legitimate demands that the nuclear unit remain French, that intellectual property stay French and that exports be protected,” Clara Gaymard, head of GE’s business in the country, said on Saturday in a France Info radio interview.
Gaymard’s comments, made a day after the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company agreed to a three-week extension for the purchase, underlined GE chief executive officer’s Jeffrey Immelt’s pledge to respect “the sovereign character” of France’s nuclear industry.
The US manufacturer is in early stage talks with state-controlled nuclear group Areva SA and other French firms about asset sales or partnerships, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.
French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg signed a decree this month allowing authorities to block some foreign takeovers, including in the energy industry.
Munich-based Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, may decide by the end of this month on a formal offer, people familiar with the situation said last week.
The German manufacturer has proposed swapping most of its trainmaking business for Alstom’s energy assets, forming two European leaders in the fields. Siemens would become one of the world’s largest producers of equipment for power plants and electric transmissions, while a top-ranked global railway business would be based in France, bringing together the German company’s ICE high-speed trains and Alstom’s iconic TGV.
Alstom chief executive Patrick Kron has called on the French government to back GE’s bid, saying the offer meets concerns about the nation’s energy independence, local decisionmaking and prevention of job cuts, as there are almost no overlaps between the operations.
Immelt said last week that he is confident the US company can complete the acquisition, which he expects to close next year.
GE’s CEO is to meet French President Francois Hollande tomorrow, the president’s office said on Saturday.
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