AC in 10 years renationalization and restatization will be the order of the day:
Message 18266803
siliconinvestor.com
Thje pendulum which swung into liberalization and privatization -started with Maggie Thatcher in early 80's will swing in the opposite direction.
Japan and Europe will kcik start it
This France and Germany case is a sign of the things to come.
Alstom pressed to form partnerships
By Daniel Dombey in Brussels, Richard Milne in Paris and Peter Marsh in London
Published: May 19 2004 19:35 | Last Updated: May 19 2004 19:35
Alstom, the troubled French engineering conglomerate, would be pushed into partnerships with other industrial groups over the next three to five years, according to demands drawn up by the European Commission. Germany's Siemens is seen as the most likely partner, given its shared interests in power turbines and high-speed trains.
European Union officials maintain that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French finance minister, has agreed to restructure the group to prepare for alliances, joint ventures and disposals of some operations over the medium term.
However, no deal has been finalised and Siemens has also indicated its likely opposition. Paris and Berlin have also differed this week over a planned bilateral meeting to encourage "the creation of industrial champions".
French officials insist that the chief aspect of the agreement is the immediate rescue of the engineering group.
Any deal between Mr Sarkozy and Mario Monti, EU competition commissioner, is also likely to be subject to consultation with Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the French prime minister, and Jacques Chirac, president.
The French finance ministry declined to comment. But a person close to the ministry said: "Let's not speak about three or five or 10 years to come. What is important is the deal with the banks and the deal with Monti."
The Brussels body believes the steps it is demanding would ensure the company's long-term viability. They would also be a condition of formal approval of France's bail-out plans for Alstom, which would see it take a stake of up to 31.5 per cent of the group.
Under state-aid rules, France would be banned from granting Alstom further state aid for 10 years. Commission officials also hope that by barring an alliance with Areva, the state-controlled French nuclear group, it has made a future tie-up with Siemens more likely.
"We prevented the Areva option because it has negative state aid implications," Mr Monti said in New York this week.
Under the Commission proposals, Alstom would have to report regularly on its progress on establishing partnerships with other groups. However, the two sides have yet to agree a timetable or concrete details.
Brussels has had continuing problems in enforcing its state-aid decisions and has failed to make the French government reclaim a "short-term" €450m ($541m) loan granted in 2002 to Bull, the French computer group.
Siemens remains the biggest obstacle to the agreement and has been contemplating legal action against an Alstom bail-out for some time.
Brussels' plan is unlikely to convince the German group, which claims it is the chief victim of subsidies to Alstom, that an acceptable solution is on the way.
Siemens could attack the Commission's decision to approve a bigger government stake in Alstom than had originally been announced.
Siemens has also made it clear that it would be interested in acquiring parts of Alstom's power generation division, but on its own terms. |
