GE Says Open to Concessions to Get Alstom Deal Approval

General Electric Co. said it is willing to make concessions to win European regulatory approval of its $17 billion deal for Alstom SA's power business that was announced more than a year ago.

Steve Bolze, chief executive of GE's Power and Water business, said the length of the European regulatory-approval process is taking a toll on the French company's business.

"We are willing to explore remedies to get this deal done," Mr. Bolze said in an interview. He noted that any concession must preserve the deal's value and that the long path to approval is creating "uncertainty with employees and customers" of Alstom.

The comments came as the deadline for approval slid even further, to the third week in August, after European regulators held up their review for two weeks. GE CEO Jeff Immelt has said he expects the deal to close in the second half of this year.

GE executives are pressing the case that GE's ownership of Alstom's gas turbine business would have little effect in Europe. They argue the market for heavy-duty gas turbines is a global one, with only 5% of demand in Europe.

Regulators are examining whether the deal would have anticompetitive effects, since GE's purchase of Alstom would reduce the number of European suppliers of new turbines from three to two, also including Siemens AG. Siemens sought to thwart the deal last year, pairing with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to make an offer of its own to purchase the Alstom assets.

A spokesman for the European Commission couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Write to Ted Mann at [e-mail]

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