Siemens and Mitsubishi Bid for Alstrom

German company Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are slated to bid nearly $10 billion (7.39 billion euros) for some of the energy assets of French prized Alstom engineering firm, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported Thursday.

Mitsubishi is eying Alstom's steam turbine and grid power business while Siemens seeks to acquire its gas turbine operations, Nikkei said.

The business daily also said that Japan's electronic and machinery Hitachi may also join the bid, which would be aimed at Alstom's gas and steam business.

In the battle for France's struggling engineering group, the consortium aims to counter a rival bid made by US giant General Electric (GE). GE has sought Alstom's wider energy group, offering $17 billion. Alstom's energy unit accounts for 70 percent of its business, the rest belonging to a railway equipment department that manufactures France's iconic TGV high-speed trains.

Paris has previously voiced its concerns that the sale of the unit could damage France's position in the energy sector, and that Alstom could be too weak as a standalone rail group.

Siemens and Mitsubishi have announced they will make their offer by June 16. On Thursday, Mitsubishi said it was still examining the deatails of the potential merger, including the price, and that a final decision had not yet been reached. GE's proposal remains on the table until June 23.

rs/uhe (Reuters/AFP)