- General Electric (NYSE:GE) is likely to win EU approval in the coming days for its $14B deal to buy Alstom’s (OTCPK:ALSMY, OTCPK:AOMFF) energy assets, Financial Times reports, citing people close to the deal who say GE has offered significant remedies.
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FT says sources at the European Commission and lawyers in Brussels believe GE had learned lessons from its failed 2001 attempt to buy Honeywell case, and noted that CEO Jeff Immelt had taken a far more diplomatic approach than his predecessor, Jack Welch; for example, Immelt visited the EU competition commissioner two times during negotiations.
- People in Brussels with knowledge of the case reportedly said technical points were still under discussion between GE and the EC but did not think those would stop the transaction from being approved.