Today 4:08 AM ET (MarketWatch)
By Ted Mann and Inti Landauro
The French government urged General Electric Co. to alter the terms of its proposed $17 billion takeover of Alstom SA 's energy assets, saying it would reject a deal that allowed GE to completely absorb the businesses
In a letter Monday to GE (GE) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said the government couldn't accept the deal out of concern it would leave little of Alstom , which the government bailed out a decade ago.
"As it stands, we unfortunately cannot agree with the proposals you made, based solely on the acquisition of Alstom's activities in the field of energy," Montebourg wrote on behalf of President François Hollande.
GE said the deal is good for Alstom and France, and said it was open to further talks.
"We appreciate the engagement of the French government," a GE spokesman said. "We believe our proposal is good for France, for Alstom and for GE. As our letter to President Hollande stressed, we are open to continuing dialogue."
The copy of the letter, reported earlier by Agence France-Presse, was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Shares of GE fell 0.4% on Monday, while Alstom shares fell 1.4%.
(An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ:com: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303647204579544272805961890?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303647204579544272805961890.html&cb=logged0.27707459753104985.)
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-Ted Mann and Inti Landauro ; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 06, 2014 04:08 ET (08:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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