General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said Wednesday
he is confident regulators will approve his deal to buy French
conglomerate Alstom SA's power business.
GE has chafed at the slow pace of review by regulators in the
European Union, who are examining how GE's acquisition of Alstom's
power turbine business would affect the industry in Europe, where
there are few other suppliers.
The company needs the $17 billion deal to boost its industrial
revenue and to help offset moves to shrink its finance arm and
weaknesses in its big oil and gas business. But it is facing close
scrutiny from European regulators worried it will concentrate the
market for power turbines.
Alstom's sales and earnings have dropped in the months since the
deal was announced in 2014, and both Mr. Immelt and the chief of
GE's power business, Steve Bolze, have said that the uncertainty of
the regulatory review is hurting Alstom's prospects.
"The processes in Europe put this company in play for 15 months
and that's tough on a business," Mr. Immelt told investors at the
Electrical Products Group Conference in Longboat Key, Fla. "We
remain confident that this deal will get approved around the
world."
GE has said it was willing to make concessions to get the deal
past regulators. On Wednesday, Mr. Immelt said the company could be
willing to sell intellectual property around the product but not
"anything that impacts the service revenue stream."
Regulators earlier this month said they aimed to issue a final
decision on the Alstom deal by Aug. 21.
Write to Ted Mann at ted.mann@wsj.com
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