France Says It Could Increase Alstom Stake

   By Nick Kostov 

PARIS--France said Monday an agreement with conglomerate Bouygues SA had gone into effect, giving the state voting rights equivalent to 20% of Alstom's share capital.

The Bouygues pact was reached in 2014 when General Electric Co. struck a deal to acquire Alstom's energy assets for 12.4 billion euros.

The state's voting rights come via an agreement with Bouygues to borrow its votes for a period of 20 months.

"The state has a series of options allowing it to acquire, if it wishes, the shares currently loaned by Bouygues," the French economy ministry said. It added that the government will be represented by two administrators on Alstom's board.

The share-purchase agreement--hashed out during marathon negotiations in 2014--removed the final hurdle from GE's pursuit of Alstom's core assets. It was conditional on the deal completing, which happened in November.

The French government had been reluctant to let the industrial jewel fall into U.S. hands and potentially threaten French jobs, warning at the time that it wouldn't sign off on GE's acquisition until it had bought most of Bouygues's Alstom stake.

Write to Nick Kostov at [e-mail] 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2016 16:07 ET (21:07 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.