French President Francois Hollande told key ministers on Monday to keep seeking better offers from potential suitors of power and train-making firm Alstom , an official at his office said, reports The Globe and Mail.
Hollande made the call at a meeting on Alstom attended by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg and Ségolène Royal, minister for the environment and energy.
“The president asked the ministers who attended to continue to work for an improvement in the various proposals in the interest of jobs, the location of decision-making centers and of energy self-sufficiency,” said the official at his office.
Monday’s meeting – which the official said was called to “take stock of the situation in the Alstom case” – took place as Germany’s Siemens mulls a possible rival deal with Alstom alongside that proposed by US group General Electric.
Siemens is working on a formal asset-swap offer for Alstom’s power business that could come as early as this week and see France take a stake in a resulting rail-focused French group, sources have told Reuters.
Alstom is already in talks with US conglomerate General Electric over a 12.35 billion euro ($16.9-billion) bid for its power arm, which it is due to review by June 2.
However, under pressure from the French government, it has opened its books to Siemens so the German company can propose its own deal if it wants to.
Read more of this Reuters report published by The Globe and Mail.