French Alstom announced late Monday afternoon that it had reached an agreement to buy Bomber Transport, railway branch of the Canadian group. The amount of the sale is between 5.8 and 6.2 billion euros (between 6.2 and 6.6 billion francs).
Bombardier “has made the strategic decision to focus exclusively on business aviation and plans to accelerate its deleveraging through the sale of its rail transportation activities,” he said in a statement.
Alstom will acquire Bombardier Transportation (BT) at an enterprise value of 7.45 billion euros (7.9 billion francs).
International presence
“This acquisition will strengthen our international presence and our ability to meet the ever-increasing demand for sustainable mobility solutions. Bombardier Transportation will provide Alstom with geographic and industrial complementarity in growing markets, as well as additional technological platforms, “commented Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, quoted in the press release.
The transaction will result in the withdrawal of the 32.5% interest of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec in BT. The Caisse will become the main shareholder of Alstom with around 18% of the capital.
After adjustments to account for liabilities, after deducting BT’s cash and the Caisse’s participation, the expected net proceeds of the sale – from $ 4.2 billion to $ 4.5 billion – will allow to reshape the capital structure, welcomes Bombardier.
Debt reduction
The Canadian group, in financial difficulty, wants to use the proceeds of the sale to reduce its debt, which amounted at the end of 2019 to $ 9.3 billion, he added.
The transaction, partly paid in cash and partly in shares newly issued by Alstom, still needs to be approved by the competition authorities, an important element after the European Commission rejected, in February 2019, the takeover of ‘Alstom by German Siemens.
“The transaction is expected to take place in the first half of 2021,” said Alstom. (Ps / nxp)
Created: 17.02.2020, 19h43
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