French president, GE boss to meet over Alstom's future

France will block any deal involving engineering group Alstom it considers unfit, Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said ahead of a meeting between President Francois Hollande and General Electric's chief executive to discuss Alstom's future. The planned meeting between the French head of state and the boss of one of the world's 10 largest publicly-quoted corporations follows a weekend of political and corporate drama, in which Alstom's German rival Siemens proposed a swap of assets to counter a potential Alstom-GE tie-up. Hours before the meeting, Montebourg said France would block any deal it considered unsuitable in terms of the long-term interests of the French company, its employees and the economy. But he stopped short of calling for Alstom's nationalization if neither GM's offer nor a rival one from Germany's Siemens proved acceptable.

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