UPDATE: GE Confirms Binding Offer For Areva T&D Unit
(Updates with additional details from GE's statement; adds background)
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.S.-based conglomerate General Electric Co. (GE)
confirmed in a statement Monday that it submitted a binding offer for French
state-controlled nuclear group Areva SA's (CEI.FR) transmission and distribution
unit, Areva T&D.
The company didn't disclose the size of the bid and said that it was submitted
without financial partners.
General Electric added that while no additional equity was required to
complete the acquisition, it would, if successful, "aim to incorporate other
minority investors, from amongst French investors and sovereign funds in
strategic areas of the world such as the Middle East and Asia."
The company said that a highlight of its bid was the "industrial and social
project" which included a combination of GE's transmission activities with Areva
T&D to create a global competitor headquartered in France.
The bid would also preserve the "manufacturing capability, domain expertise,
and business leadership that Areva T&D has built globally," the statement said,
as well include a "commitment to continue long-term investment in technology
development and the global reach of the T&D business."
Areva confirmed Monday that it had received three firm offers for its
transmission and distribution unit, after a deadline for bids expired at 1600
GMT.
General Electric had been expected to submit a bid alongside Luxembourg-based
private-equity fund CVC Capital Partners Ltd., but CVC withdrew from the
alliance ahead of the deadline, a person familiar with talks said earlier
Monday.
GE said in its statement that its bid was submitted without financial partners
"to reinforce the strategic and industrial nature of its proposal, and the
company's long-term commitment to the T&D business."
Areva confirmed that the other bidders for Areva T&D were an all-French
consortium of engineering group Alstom SA (ALO.FR) and electrical equipment
maker company Schneider Electric SA (SU.FR); and Japan's Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO)
, which is teaming up with Japanese sovereign fund INCJ.
Areva is expected to announce a preferred bidder on Nov. 16, and the sale
should be completed by the end of the year, sources close to the process said.
-By Nick Heath, Dow Jones Newswires; (44-20) 7842-9405; nicholas.heath@
dowjones.com
(Geraldine Amiel and Natalie Boschat in Paris contributed to this article.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-09-091524ET
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