New plan to save Alstom meets COmmission's criteria

Brussels, 22/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has ruled that the new plan to save the Alstom group, presented to it by the French authorities on Monday, fulfils its criteria, and is waiting for formal notification from France allowing it to continue with the inquiry it opened last Wednesday. Following an board meeting in the afternoon, the investment banks involved were to agree to contribute up to 2.4 billion EUR to this latest plan (as opposed to 1.3 billion under the previous one), whilst the French State will put in 800 million. The Commission accepted the financial plan put to it as an alternative to a direct and irreversible entry into the group's own resources. The new plan provides that the State will subscribe to a proportion of Alstom's debt of 500 million EUR, and also to a sum of 300 million EUR in perpetual floating-rate notes redeemable as shares. These notes could be converted into shares at a later date if the Commission gives its green light after the in-depth inquiry it opened last week. "It is my pleasure to announce that the French authorities have satisfied all of the Commission's conditions", commented Competition Commissioner Mario Monti, who added: "as the State will not immediately intervene in Alstom's capital, we are no longer in a situation of fait accompli, and there will be no more suspensive injunction (...) this does not mean that the Commission has authorised the plan, but that the inquiry can now be undertaken constructively with the object of restructuring the company". The Commissioner welcomed the "highly constructive" attitude of the French authorities, despite the moral and political pressure brought to bear. "The Commission has never held any prejudices against France and Alstom, but it is our duty to make sure that market competition conditions are not immediately and irreversibly modified", he said, pointing out that the Commission's objective is to reduce the overall amount of State aid, and that any contrary attitude on his part would constitute a "step backwards" in his policy.