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Siemens Not Interested in Alstom's Transport Division

May 24, 2004
https://p.dw.com/p/55Nh

German engineering giant Siemens has reportedly expressed no intention of bidding for the moribund French company's transport division, thereby rejecting earlier press reports that the maker of the German high-speed train ICE was interested in taking over Alstom's equivalent, the TGV. Sources close to the two said that a merger of the companies' transport divisions would not make sense for competition reasons. Siemens chairman Heinrich von Pierer had already announced last month that a tie-up between the ICE and TGV would prove very complicated in terms of European anti-trust regulations. The German company, which also includes electrical and telecommunication divisions, is allegedly still interested in buying parts of Alstom's energy business, notably its turbine manufacturing plants. The German government is believed to favor its national industrial giant obtaining key Alstom activities under a rescue package being hammered out with the European Commission. But Paris is still pushing for a government bail-out that would prevent the company from being sold off and give the French government almost a third of Alstom's share capital, while leaving potential foreign bidders with nothing.