France meets Alstom bidders with pledge to protect jobs

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

PARIS (Reuters) – France said it would defend jobs and its national interest as it met suitors eyeing a breakup of engineering group Alstom on Monday and suggested it preferred Germany’s Siemens over U.S. giant General Electric.

President Francois Hollande held talks with GE boss Jeff Immelt on Monday morning and sat down later with Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser to discuss the fate of Alstom, the maker of the country’s prestigious TGV high-speed trains and turbines for power plants.