I'm sure the austerity-lashed French people are going to be happy to $ee this:
"French company says yes to GE offer
PARIS — The board of the French industrial conglomerate Alstom said Saturday that it had unanimously backed General Electric’s offer to acquire most of its energy business for $13.5 billion, essentially ending the battle for the company. A final deal was still awaiting the successful outcome of negotiations between the government and Alstom’s largest shareholder over the sale of a stake to the state (New York Times)."
"Last snag cleared in GE’s bid in France" by David Jolly | New York Times June 23, 2014
PARIS — The last major obstacle to General Electric Co.’s $13.5 billion acquisition of Alstom’s energy assets fell Sunday, when France’s government agreed to buy a stake in the French industrial conglomerate from the billionaire Bouygues family.
On Saturday, Alstom’s board unanimously backed GE’s offer to buy the energy business, which makes power-generation equipment and the electrical grid to deliver energy to customers. But the French government had changed the game Friday by insisting it would take a 20 percent stake in the remaining bits of Alstom.
Disagreement with the Bouygues family, which owns 29 percent of Alstom, about the price of the stake had raised the possibility the deal would fail.
But late Sunday, the French Economy Ministry said the state holding company, Agence des Participations de l’État, and the Bouygues had agreed to give the French government the option to buy up to 20 percent of Alstom “at the market price with a standard discount, on condition that this price is higher or equal to the equivalent of a theoretical adjusted price of 35 euros per share.”
At 35 euros, or $47.60, a share, Bouygues has extracted a 25 percent premium to Alstom’s closing price on Friday. The Bouygues, who also control a large construction and engineering company, had a certain leverage, as the government needed to close the sale before the opening of the Paris bourse on Monday.
Means they overpaid for the stock, the government did.
The disagreement about price had raised anxieties that the deal — already the subject of intense political machinations, including the solicitation by the French government of a rival offer from Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — might founder.
Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg had cautioned that a final agreement was contingent on the state’s buying a stake in Alstom, which would be left as a holding company after the deal, housing three 50-50 joint ventures with GE and an expanded rail transport business, bolstered by the addition of Connecticut-based GE’s rail signaling unit.
General Electric declined to comment.
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Also see: US, French bank close to deal on $9 billion fine
That's the end of this flurry.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: France advances with scoreless draw
Paper made the right pick, score and all.
