Alstom SA and Schneider Electric SA plan to make a joint bid for Areva SA’s transmission and distribution unit as the French companies seek to expand by buying the state-owned asset.
The two companies would break up the unit if successful, with the transmission operations going to turbine supplier Alstom, the companies said in a joint statement. Schneider would take over the distribution operations. “This offer will optimise the strategic, industrial and commercial strengths that both Alstom and Schneider can bring to each of the two areas of T&D and maximize the value of the business,” they said. “This offer would consequently be more attractive for the vendor.” Areva needs billions of euros for investment, shutting down aging plants and for buying Siemens AG’s share of a nuclear reactor joint venture.
Alstom sold the unit to Areva five years ago, when the government helped save the train-maker and power- station builder. The two companies may have to bid more than ¤3 bn ($4.3 bn), two people briefed on the proposed joint-bid said in May. Selling the unit will leave Areva focused on all stages of nuclear energy production, from uranium mining to enrichment and waste disposal, at a time when countries are turning to nuclear energy to combat climate change and a possible scarcity of fossil fuels.
