Siemens, Mitsubishi Joint Offer Counters GE's Bid For Alstom Energy

(RTTNews) - German engineering giant Siemens AG (SIE) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on Monday jointly offered to acquire Alstom's energy business, in a riposte to a rival $17 billion bid from General Electric (GE).

The offer is multifaceted, with Siemens offering to acquire Alstom's gas turbines business for 3.9 billion euros, while Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy and Hitachi Ltd will chip in with 3.1 billion euros and merge their operations with Alstom in other key energy areas.

The offer also intends to create a transport group by combining the rail assets of Siemens and France's Alstom.

The proposal comes in the wake of a GE bid aggregating $17 billion for all of Alstom's Thermal, Renewable and Grid businesses.

Detailing its offer, Siemens said it intends to offer a job guarantee for three years in France and Germany for the transferred business after the closing of the deal. Siemens also plans to establish its European Headquarters for the combined gas service business in France.

On its part, Mitsubishi intends to form a broad industrial alliance with Alstom and create three joint ventures by acquiring 40 percent of Alstom's Steam and Nuclear business, 20 percent of Alstom's Grid business and 20 percent of its Hydro business.

Mitsubishi also intends to become a stable and long-term shareholder of Alstom by offering to acquire up to 10 per cent stake from Bouygues SA.

GE's offer had some political repercussions, with French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg warning that an Alsom-GE deal will impinge on France's economic sovereignty, and urged Siemens to come up with its own bid.

In Germany's Xetra exchange, Siemens stock is trading at 99.04 euros, up 0.24 euros or 0.24%, on a volume of about 1 million shares.