Tokyo: Japan`s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is offering to buy a 10 percent stake in Alstom, a report said Sunday, as it seeks to sweeten a joint bid with Siemens to acquire some of the French firm`s energy assets.
Mitsubishi`s offer comes as it tries to convince the French government to choose the German-Japanese bid for Alstom`s assets over a rival offer from General Electric, the Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources.
Mitsubishi and Siemens are reportedly offering $10 billion for Alstom`s gas and steam turbine business, while the United States` GE has offered $17 billion for the French conglomerate`s wider energy group.
A source told AFP on Thursday that Mitsubishi is now eyeing a minority stake in Alstom as it looks to reassure the French government of its intentions by forging a broader industrial alliance with the French "national jewel".
Mitsubishi`s planned capital injection marks an attempt to sweeten its offer to ensure its joint bid with the German giant is accepted, the Nikkei said.
The French government views Alstom as a firm of national strategic importance and is concerned about safeguarding jobs at the company -- one of France`s biggest private sector employers, with about 18,000 staff nationwide -- as it battles record unemployment and declining industrial competitiveness.
The German-Japanese joint offer could scupper GE`s bid, which has already run into political opposition in France.
France is worried that Alstom`s business base may weaken should its energy assets be bought by foreign firms.
A Mitsubishi spokesman could not immediately confirm the Nikkei report. "We cannot comment on it as we are still in negotiations," he said.
