The European Commission has set a deadline of Jan. 28 to decide whether to approve the planned rail merger of Siemens and Alstom.
The deadline was suspended early in August, but the Commission, which rules on mergers in the 28-country European Union, stated in an online filing issued on Friday that this suspension had ended on Sept. 4 and a new deadline had been set.
The deal, agreed last September, has broad political support in France and Germany where politicians argue the merger, of Siemens’ mobility unit with their French rival, bringing together their rolling stock manufacturing, signalling and railways services businesses, is needed to counter Chinese competition, namely CRRC, the world’s biggest train maker.
“This Franco-German merger of equals sends a strong signal in many ways,” said Joe Kaeser, president and chief executive of Siemens at the time the deal was announced. “We put the European idea to work and, together with our friends at Alstom, we are creating a new European champion in the rail industry for the long term.”
Full Content: Financial Times
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