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EU: GE to defend Alstom deal at hearing next week

By  |  June 28, 2015

General Electric will seek to convince doubtful EU antitrust regulators of the merits of its 12.4 billion euro bid for Alstom’s power unit at a hearing, the U.S. conglomerate said on Saturday.

The move came after the European Commission warned the company earlier this month that the deal, its biggest ever and a key element of its expansion into industrial products and away from finance, would harm competition.

Senior officials from the EU competition authority, their counterparts from EU agencies and rivals are expected to attend the closed-door hearing.

“We have requested an oral hearing,” GE spokesman Jim Healy said. He said the hearing would be on July 2.

The Commission is concerned the takeover would leave just two gas turbine companies in Europe, with GE competing only with Germany’s Siemens.

Full content: Reuters

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