Above all, not to speak of a new world rail champion, but simply of a means “To accelerate the movement” for rail development. This is how Henri Poupart-Lafarge, the CEO of Alstom, defends his takeover, for a sum of 5.8 to 6.2 billion euros, of its Canadian competitor Bombardier Transportation, formalized on Monday February 17.
A year after the scathing failure of the merger with its German competitor Siemens, the tricolor group, the world number two in the sector, takes its revenge and gets hold of the number four to grow and better deploy around the globe, while the train regains the favor of the general public in the face of air transport, which emits more greenhouse gases.
Certainly in bad shape, Bombardier Transportation represents a “Unique opportunity”, said Mr. Poupart-Lafarge during a press conference call. This allows it to strengthen itself in a market where the Chinese CRRC (China Railroad Rolling Stock Corporation) acts as a global scarecrow. The new group led by the French is expected to weigh, at the end of the takeover process in mid-2021, 15.5 billion euros in turnover, half as much as CRRC, but still twice as much as Siemens.
Increasingly intense international competition
Initial reactions have been relatively positive on both sides of the Atlantic. “I am delighted that Alstom, through the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, is playing a leading role in the necessary strengthening of the European rail industry”, assured Monday evening Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy. “This combination will allow Alstom to prepare for the future, in a context of increasingly intense international competition. This is great news for France, for Europe and for Canada. “
The Premier of Quebec, François Legault (CAQ, Coalition Avenir Quebec, center right), praised the potential for expansion of such an agreement. Relying in particular on the announcement of the future headquarters of the Americas region of the new group in Montreal, he said that “The idea was that Quebec would become a bit like the champion of the Americas in the manufacture of trains”.
The opposition parties, however, intend to obtain more formal guarantees from the Quebec government on the 1,000 local jobs in this transport branch of Bombardier. MP Richard Ouellet, of the Parti Québécois (independence), claims to the government that he “Sends a strong signal to fill Alstom’s future order books by launching long-awaited projects as quickly as possible, such as the Quebec tramway or the extension of the Montreal Metropolitan Express Network”.
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