After the failed merger with the train division of Siemens, France's TGV manufacturer Alstom found another partner. Parisian politicians are following the project very closely.
Paris (AP) - The French train manufacturer Alstom sees the planned takeover of the train division of the Canadian Bombardier Group on the right track.
"This is going according to our plans," said CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge when he presented the business figures for the past year in Saint-Ouen near Paris. "We have already secured the financing." The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2021.
The manufacturer of the TGV high-speed trains announced the merger in February, according to information at the time, 5.8 billion to 6.2 billion euros are due. Poupart-Lafarge reported that talks with the social partners were going well.
The project is highly political: the French group had failed due to concerns of the EU competition authorities when trying to merge with the Siemens train division. Now, according to the will of French politics, Europe should no longer have a veto. The powerful economics and finance minister Bruno Le Maire insists on forming European leaders in order to remain internationally competitive.
Bombardier has several plants in Germany, Alstom operates its largest plant in Germany. According to earlier information, both employ more than 9,000 people in Germany. When the merger was announced, IG Metall feared further relocations to cheap locations and demanded from politicians to accompany the process.
Alstom had sales of around 8.2 billion euros in fiscal year 2019/20, which was two percent more than in the previous year. The profit was 467 million euros. According to the company, the previous year's figure of 681 million euros is not comparable because of changes in the inclusion of certain parts of the group.
The Covid 19 pandemic cost the group around 100 million euros in sales at the end of the financial year. Due to the crisis, the dividend for the past financial year should be canceled. Poupart-Lafarge said that the 2020/21 financial year would be more difficult than the previous one. In the medium term, the group is confident: "The priority for clean mobility is there," he said.
Announcement Alstom (French)
