西門子和通用電氣競相取悅法國政府
General Electric of the US and Siemens of Germany yesterday launched charm offensives to win France’s socialist government over to their competing bids for engineering group and “industrial jewel” Alstom, each arguing that its offer best served the national interest.
正在競購阿爾斯通(Alstom)的美國的通用電氣(GE)以及德國的西門子(Siemens)昨日展開魅力攻勢，各自試圖贏得法國社會黨政府的支持。通用電氣和西門子都指出，自己的收購提議最符合法國的國家利益。工程集團阿爾斯通被譽爲法國的“工業明珠”。Jeff Immelt, chief executive of GE, and Joe Kaeser, his Siemens counterpart, met president François Hollande at the Elysée Palace after Paris threatened to block any deal it considered unsuitable.
通用電氣首席執行官傑夫•伊梅爾特(Jeff Immelt)和西門子首席執行官喬•克澤爾(Joe Kaeser)在愛麗捨宮(Elysée Palace)與法國總統弗朗索瓦•奧朗德(François Hollande)舉行了會面。此前法國政府威脅稱，將阻撓任何在其看來“不合適”的交易。The GE approach sparked national debate last week over France’s declining industrial power and spurred politicians to seek alternatives, though the state no longer has a stake in Alstom.
通用電氣的收購提議上週在法國全國上下引發了有關法國工業實力下降的爭論，並促使法國政界尋求其他方案，儘管法國政府目前已不再持有阿爾斯通的股權。
Industry minister Arnaud Montebourg appeared to favour Siemens yesterday evening. He said its proposal to swap rail for power assets would create “two European and global champions”. This deal would be easier to sell politically than the proposed US offer and Berlin weighed in to it. But the GE deal is widely seen to make more industrial sense and could result in fewer job losses.
法國工業部長阿諾•蒙特布爾格(Arnaud Montebourg)昨日晚間表現得更傾向於西門子。他表示，西門子的提議——即以自身鐵路業務置換阿爾斯通電力資產——將締造出“兩家歐洲以及全球範圍內的冠軍企業”。這項交易在政治上比美國通用電氣的收購更容易得到支持，且德國政府也表示了支持。但通用電氣的收購要約被普遍認爲更具產業合理性，並能減少工作崗位損失。The Alstom board favours GE, said people close to the talks, but is considering its options. There was speculation that Paris could still bring in a French bidder. Siemens’ board is set to meet and a bid could come as early as today.
據瞭解談判情況的人士稱，阿爾斯通董事會偏向於通用電氣，但也在考慮其他選擇。有傳言稱，法國政府可能還會引入一個法國競購方。西門子董事會將舉行會議，收購要約最早將於今天發出。
