French President Francois Hollande and his Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg are holding meetings with General Electric, Siemens and the Boguyes group to discuss the future of French engineering giant Alstom.<br /><br />General Electric Chief executive Jeff Immelt is in Paris to nail a 10 billion euro purchase of Alstom’s power turbine business.<br /><br />The General Electric move has caused political outrage in France over the foreign purchase of a major French company.<br /><br />Cue Siemens, the German group builds high speed trains and power-station turbines and has come in with an offer which better suits Paris.<br /><br />The Siemens bid suggests an asset swap with Alstom taking on the Siemans train business with Siemens running Alstom’s turbine arm.<br /><br />According to Montebourg the deal will create two global European giants one in energy the other in transport. <br /><br />Either way Alstom needs a partner as it is creaking under heavy debts and a downturn in orders.<br /><br />Shares in Alstom have been suspended until Wednesday.
