Toshiba to bid for Alstom's power-grid business, report

Japan's Toshiba will offer to buy Alstom's power-grid business from General Electric (GE) if the US's bid for the French company's energy arm goes through, a Japanese paper reports. The French government has opposed GE's bid for Alstom.

Reuters/Vincent Kessler

French conglomerate Alstom, which builds TGV high-speed trains, is mulling GE's offer for its energy unit and a rival offer by German group Siemens.

French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg, who has criticised the GE bid, is to visit Berlin on Friday to discuss Alstom with German officials.

The energy unit includes fossil-fuel-fired power plants, renewable energy and power-grid equipment.

The US firm has an edge over its German rival and Toshiba already has already a tie-up with GE. 

According to Japanese business daily Nikkei, "if completed, Toshiba would see its power-grid sales triple from 2,000 billion euros annually."

"We are looking at merger and acquisition opportunities (...) but no decision had been made on the reported GE offer," a company spokesperson said

In 2006 Toshiba bought the American nuclear reactor constructor Westinghouse Electric.

In 2015 the Japanese company expects a 24 billion dollar contract for the construction of eight nuclear reactors in China.