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General Electric's (GE) chief executive visited France this week, making what some are calling a "last-ditch bid" to acquire the transmission and distribution arm of Areva, a state-owned French company.
Immelt spent some time with two of the closest advisors to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, hoping to convince Sarkozy to ignore political pressure and realize the benefits of GE's $6 billion offer. The French government is rather adamant about keeping the domestic company home, asking a pairing of two French companies (Schneider Electric and Alstom) to rework their initial bid, which was the lowest.
GE is not the only company that has made a bid for the French group; Toshiba has also made a bid. It is believed that Toshiba's bid is the largest, but it sure seems that France wants to keep the company within its own borders. The thing is, a decision doesn't seem to be coming any time soon. One person close to the process noted that the situation is "... a stitch-up. The second round was supposed to be final and now we see it is not."
Bottom line: the French government is going to give the hometown companies every chance to match or exceed any foreign bids. In fact, don't be surprised if the company were to accept the French bid with a few mere modifications, even if it is lower than the bids from GE and Toshiba. There is no reason for outrage; I am sure that this happens everywhere. Let's not get blinded by the fact that this is a foreign country trying to wait and see if a domestic bid is better than an American bid; it's just business.
What I wonder is if this is a smart investment for GE. Yes, many companies are vying for the French company, but GE may have better things to concentrate on than acquiring the French firm. With the stock wallowing in the $14 to $16 range, the company may want to focus on getting the stock back to where it was trading in 2007.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-27-2009 @ 2:07PM
MyKisa said...
...in a NWO there will be no boundries or allegiance....only the consuming love of money and power
11-27-2009 @ 2:20PM
nickerson said...
When is Immelt going to call it quits, hope it's before he takes GE down to tubes, this guy sucks, he has his head or let's say Obama has his head right up this guys ass and along with SOROS, two left wing JEW crack pots.