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Trains News Wire FLASH: Alstom: unaware of GE purchase talks
For GE it is a good fit. It also puts GE in a position to bring offshore profits back to the US without paying a lot of tax. They may be talking to a major shareholder Bouygues.
Alstom GE sound almost as good as Alco GE.
This deal would make a lot of sense. Railroad wise it would give GE a line of locomotives that would serve mass transit and high speed rail throughout the world. Also the electric power plants should fit into GE’s portfolio.
Who mentioned Alstom years ago?
Actually, such an acquisition lays bare the fact that USA manufactured, from design to errection, passenger train equipment was the victim of more than a half-century neglect due to the lack of a market. Now, even a behemoth like GE looks down the track and sees a long term rebirth of passenger rail.
The deal would probably NOT include Alstom’s transportation business. See below.
General Electric Co. (GE) is in talks to buy Alstom SA (ALO), the French builder of power plants and transmission gear, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what would be GE’s biggest acquisition ever.
An agreement may be announced as early as next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The deal may result in a separation of Alstom’s transport business, which manufactures high-speed TGV trains, to make obtaining the approval of the French government easier, one of the people said. Alstom’s other assets represent more than 70 percent of sales.
Wasn’t Alstom originally British General Electric Co (G-E-C)?
I believe Alstom is the result of merging the British G.E.C. with the French Alsthom (with “h”), creating GEC Alsthom, later changed to Alstom
Alstom was originally General Railway Signal based in Rochester, NY.