Alsthom (1928–1989) Alsthom (at the time, with an 'h' in the word) was founded in 1928 from the merger of the French heavy engineering subsidiary of the
Thomson-Houston Electric Company, the Compagnie française Thomson Houston, CFTH, and of the
Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques. In 1932, Alsthom expanded into transportation by acquiring the
Constructions électriques de France,
Tarbes, a manufacturer of electric locomotives as well as electrical and hydraulic equipment. In 1969,
Compagnie Générale d'Électricité (CGE) became the majority shareholder of Alsthom. In 1976, Alsthom merged with
Chantiers de l'Atlantique, becoming Alsthom Atlantique. Thus, the business expanded into marine. The next year, it constructed the first 1300 MW generator set for the
Paluel Nuclear Power Plant, setting a world record with an output of 1500 MW. In 1978, Alsthom delivered its first
TGV to
SNCF. The TGV went on to break world rail speed records in 1981 (at ) and in 1990 (at ). It also set the world endurance record for high-speed train lines in 2001, travelling the from
Calais to
Marseille in 3 hours and 29 minutes. In 1986, Alsthom Belfort received an order from
EDF for the largest gas turbine in the world (212 MW). In 1988–89, the holding company, CGEE Alsthom, acquired ACEC Énergie (hydroturbines and electrical equipment for the nuclear industry) and ACEC Automatisme (automation) from the dissolution of the Belgian electrical engineering company
Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi. Alsthom acquired 100% of ACEC's transport division and renamed it ACEC Transport.
GEC Alsthom (1989–1998) In early 1989, GEC Alsthom was formed from a 50–50 merger of Alsthom and the Power Systems Division of the British
General Electric Company; for Alsthom this move was intended to aid Alsthom in selling its products outside the French market. In May of that year GEC Alsthom bought British rail vehicle manufacturer
Metro-Cammell. train at
London St Pancras. The class 373 was built by Alstom in the early to mid-1990s for the
Eurostar high-speed service from England to France and Belgium. train running on the
Kochi Metro built in 2017 During the early-1990s, GEC Alsthom was the principal manufacturer of the
British Rail Class 373, a variant of their TGV family specially designed for traversing the
Channel Tunnel between the UK and France. Although collectively operated by
Eurostar, the type was ordered by three different railway companies: 16 by
SNCF, four by
NMBS/SNCB, and 18 by
British Rail, of which seven were shortened
North of London sets. The first Class 373 set was completed at GEC Alstom's Belfort facility during 1992. In 1994, GEC Alsthom acquired a 51% shareholding in
Linke-Hofmann-Busch from
Salzgitter AG. In 1995, the company acquired the remaining shares in the steam turbine manufacturer
MAN Energie. In early 1998, GEC Alsthom acquired the electrical contractor
Cegelec, renaming it
Alstom Power Conversion. In 1998, GEC Alsthom bought Italian firm
SASIB's rail signalling subsidiary
Sasib Railways, which included the former
General Railway Signal (USA). In June 1998, GEC Alsthom was listed on the
Paris Stock Exchange; both GEC and
Alcatel elected to sell off part of their stakes (23.6% each). Around this time, the company was officially renamed
Alstom.
Alstom (1999–2014) 6000 series railcars built by Alstom in 2006 In 1999, Alstom bought half of
ABB's power systems division, forming a 50-50 joint company known as ABB Alstom Power. Alstom also bought Canada's Télécité, a passenger information and security solutions company, and sold to
General Electric its heavy-duty gas turbine business (GE license design) The next year, the company bought out ABB's share in the former joint venture ABB Alstom Power. In 2000, Alstom sold its diesel engine businesses (
Ruston,
Paxman, and
Mirrlees Blackstone) to
MAN Group. It also acquired a 51% stake in Italian rail manufacturer
Fiat Ferroviaria, a world leader in tilting technology. In April 2003, Alstom sold its industrial turbine business to
Siemens for €1.1 billion. By 2003, Alstom was facing a financial crisis caused by a mix of poor sales and over $5 billion of debt liabilities. It reportedly had the potential to force the company's liquidation. These heavy debts were largely due to a $4 billion charge over a design flaw in a turbine developed by
ABB, acquired by Alstom in 2000, as well as the collapse of customer
Renaissance Cruises amid a general downturn in the marine market. Alstom's share price had dropped by 90% over two years. The
European Commission objected to a €3.2 billion rescue plan involving the French state;
European Union competition law bans most state aid without EC permission. This was obtained, but required Alstom to sell several of its subsidiaries, including its shipbuilding and electrical transmission assets. In 2004, the French state took a 21% stake in Alstom for €772 million and Alstom received an EU-approved bailout worth in total €2.5 billion. The company sold its
electrical transmission and distribution ("grid") activities to
Areva, the diesel locomotive manufacturer
Meinfesa to
Vossloh, and Alstom Power Rentals to APR LLC. In 2010, Alstom re-acquired the electric power transmission division of Areva. In 2005, the former Metro-Cammell rail vehicle works in
Washwood Heath closed. In the same year, Alstom sold its Australian subsidiary, Alstom Transport Australia and New Zealand, to
United Group, which became part of the latter's
UGL Rail division. In June 2006,
Bouygues acquired the French government's 21% holding in Alstom for €2 billion. Later that year, Bouygues elected to increase its shareholding in the firm to 24%. In 2007, the TGV POS set the
world speed record for rail vehicles of . In March, Alstom acquired
Power Systems Manufacturing LLC (
Florida, USA) a manufacturer of gas turbine components from
Calpine Corporation for $242 million. In June, Alstom acquired the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Ecotècnia, renamed as
Alstom Ecotècnia (since 2010
Alstom Wind). The company also adopted a new graphic chart (logo, corporate identity) using "alstom" as its trading name, reserving "Alstom SA" for legal documents. In 2009, Alstom acquired a 25% stake in the
Russian locomotive manufacturer
Transmashholding. Six years later, Alstom decided to increase its shareholding in Transmashholding to 33% at a reported cost of €54 million. As a consequence of an alignment agreement between Transmashholding and another entity,
LocoTech-Service, Alstom's stake in the former decreased to 20% in August 2018. In 2011, Alstom and the Iraqi government signed a
memorandum of understanding regarding the construction of a new
high-speed rail line between
Baghdad and
Basra. In 2012, Alstom opened construction of factories at
Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada (passenger rail vehicles). After a consortium of Alstom (
Alstom Wind),
EDF, and
DONG Energy was awarded three major French offshore wind farm contracts, the company initiated construction of factories at
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (turbine blades in association with
LM Power, also wind turbine towers) and
Saint-Nazaire (Nacelles and generators). Also in 2012, the company formed a joint venture with
RusHydro to manufacture hydropower equipment for small and medium power hydropower plants (up to about 100 MW). Late in 2012, to further the development of its tidal energy business, Alstom acquired
Tidal Generation Ltd from
Rolls-Royce, however this was later sold to
GE in 2015 as part of the sale of Alstom's energy business. In November 2013, Alstom announced it planned to raise €1 to €2 billion through sale of some non-core assets, plus the possible sale of a stake in Alstom Transport, and cut 1,300 jobs. In 2014, Alstom sold its steam auxiliary components activities (air preheaters and gas-gas heaters for thermal power, other industrial heat transfer equipment, and grinding mills) to
Triton Partners for €730 million. In November 2014, Alstom was awarded a $429.4 million contract to modernise 85 trains for the
Mexico City Metro system.
Judicial investigations Starting in 2009, Alstom's practices were questioned by the
United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on the basis that they violated the 1977
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This American law has
extraterritorial scope. At the time, Alstom seemed to cooperate with the proceedings. In 2010, the DOJ opened an investigation into Alstom's commercial practices, focusing on a 2003 deal in
Indonesia valued at $118 million in particular. On 13 April 2013, Alstom senior executive
Frédéric Pierucci was arrested at the
John F. Kennedy International Airport in
New York. He was accused of
willful blindness of his company's suspected corruption and was imprisoned in a high security facility for 14 months and denied release on
bail until the week of Alstom's acquisition by the US conglomerate
General Electric. In late 2014, Alstom was fined $772 million by the DOJ, and admitted guilt under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in relation to bribes paid to obtain contracts in various countries. In mid-2014, Alstom Network UK was charged by the UK
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in relation to corruption offences alleged to have been committed when obtaining transportation contracts in India, Poland and Tunisia, covered under sections 1 of the
Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and
Criminal Law Act 1977. Further charges were brought in late 2014 by the SFO in relation to corrupt practices used to obtain energy contracts in Lithuania. Additional charges relating to contracts for the
Budapest Metro in Hungary were added in April 2015. In December 2018, three executives of Alstom were found guilty of conspiracy to corrupt following an investigation by the SFO into allegations of several
Lithuanian politicians and officials being offered
bribes in return for securing contracts. In February 2020, the
United Nations published a
database of all business enterprises involved in certain specified activities related to the
Israeli settlements. Alstom has been listed on the database in light of its involvement in activities related to "the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements" and "the use of natural resources, in particular
water and
land, for business purposes".
Sale of energy businesses to General Electric On 24 April 2014, unconfirmed reports claimed that US conglomerate
General Electric (GE) was in acquisition talks with Alstom for $13 billion with the support of 29%-shareholder Bouygues, causing Alstom's share price to rise 18% in one day. On 27 April,
Le Figaro reported that a rival 'cash plus asset swap' offer was issued by
Siemens, trading Alstom's power business for part of its rail arm, plus a cash offer as good as GE's and job guarantees. Siemens' bid was reportedly promoted by French economic minister
Arnaud Montebourg. Siemens and Alstom had a greater product overlap and thus a greater risk to jobs, along with potential issues with EU competition regulators. Siemens' offer was characterised as "defensive", being skeptically received by investors and analysts. On 29 April,
Reuters reported that Alstom's board had accepted a €10 billion bid by GE for its energy division; In a letter from GE executive
Jeffrey R. Immelt to President
François Hollande published in
Les Echos, Immelt gave assurances about continued investment in Alstom's French activities, the security of the civil nuclear sector, and on job commitments made by
Alstom Wind, whilst making its wind activities available to investors. On 30 April, Alstom confirmed that an offer for its power and grid divisions (representing an
equity value of €12.35 billion, €11.4 billion
enterprise value) was under review with key interests including the French state. On 30 April, GE confirmed it had made a $16.9 billion offer, comprising a $13.5 billion value plus $3.4 billion cash. On 5 May, GE offered to buy one-fourth of the shares in Alstom's Indian power and distribution companies –
Alstom T&D India and
Alstom India – at 261.25 and 382.20 rupees a share (value US$278 million and $111 million respectively) subject to its bid for Alstom SA being successful. On 5 May 2014, the French government stated it did not back GE's bid, citing concerns on the future of Alstom's rail division as a smaller separate entity, suggesting that GE transfer its own rail division to Alstom; other concerns were over the civil nuclear field's national independence, and French jobs. On 14 May, France issued a decree (
Décret n° 2014-479 du 14 mai 2014.), nicknamed "
décret Alstom", extending to power of the state to veto the takeover of "strategic interests" into areas of energy supply, water, transport, telecoms and public health. On 16 June, Siemens and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) submitted a competing offer for Siemens to acquire Alstom's gas turbine activities for €3.9 billion while MHI would form joint ventures with Alstom, acquiring 40%, 20% and 20% stakes in Alstom's steam and nuclear, electrical grid, and
hydroelectric businesses respectively, for €3.1 billion. The proposal included an offer to buy a further 10% stake from shareholder
Bouygues and an option to form a rail transport joint venture. On 19 June, GE revised its bid, matching the same price with a lower cash transaction value; it also proposed forming a joint venture of their renewable, electric grid, steam turbine and nuclear power businesses. GE announced a memorandum of understanding between the two firms in the rail sector and the sale of GE's rail signalling unit to Alstom. On 20 June, Siemens and MHI modified their bid, with MHI increasing its stake in Alstom's steam, hydro, and grid businesses to 40% in all three (total €3.9 billion) while Siemens increased its offer by €400 million to €4.3 billion. Subsequently, Economy minister
Arnaud Montebourg stated he would block both bids, but the French government backed GE's offer and had given GE more specifications on commitments and guarantees; it also intended to buy two-thirds of Bouygues' shareholding (20%). The next day, Alstom's board backed GE's revised bid. On 22 June, the French state agreed terms with Bouygues, buying a 20% stake in Alstom from Bouygues at a 2–5% discount on a minimum value of ≈€35 per share. Initially, the acquisition was expected to be finalised by early 2015. Both EU and US competition regulators approved the deal by September 2015, subject to the divestiture of Alstom's large and very large gas turbine (GT26 and GT36 models) manufacturing and service business; and its GE7FA gas turbine aftermarket parts subsidiary business,
Power Systems Mfg. LLC (PSM), to another company,
Ansaldo Energia. The sale of Alstom's energy division to GE was finalised on 2 November 2015; the final valuation being €12.4 billion, of which €9.7 billion was transferred to Alstom, the remainder being reinvested in GE/Alstom joint ventures plus other corrections. The acquired businesses were reorganised within GE's existing power generation business (
GE Power & Water) as
GE Power. The remainder of Alstom Group, including GE Signalling (acquired via a €700 million deal), refocused on rail transport. Due to the acquisition, GE accrued $17.3bn of goodwill, consisting of Alstom's negative book value of $7.2bn at the time of acquisition and the $10.1bn purchase price. In October 2018, GE wrote-off $23bn from the value of its power industry division, largely attributed to the Alstom purchase.
November 2015 – present is expected to enter service with the French train operator SNCF in TGV service in 2026. In November 2015, Alstom was awarded a contract by the Indian Railways to construct an electric locomotive factory in
Madhepura (
Bihar), receiving an initial order of 800 twin-section 9MW locomotives for use on the
Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, valued at ₹190 billion (about US$2.9 billion). This factory was to be operated under a joint venture with the
Ministry of Railways (26%) at a cost of ₹13 billion (roughly US$200 million). In September 2015, it was announced that
Amtrak would award Alstom a contract for $2.5 billion for the next generation high-speed train sets for the
Northeast Corridor. This would result in the creation of 750 jobs across upstate New York with 400 direct manufacturing jobs at Alstom. The order for 28
Avelia Liberty trainsets was officially confirmed in August 2016 by Amtrak. These trainsets are manufactured at Alstom's plant in
Hornell, New York. In March 2016, a joint venture of Alstom and
Gibela began construction of a new train building factory in
Dunnotar, outside of
Johannesburg, South Africa. Initial orders for the factory included 580
X'Trapolis Mega passenger trains for
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa under a €4 billion contract that was awarded in 2013. In September 2016, Alstom announced it was to cease locomotive manufacturing at its
Belfort (France) site by 2018 due to low orders; remaining production activity was to be transferred to its facility of
Alstom DDF in
Reichshoffen,
Alsace. However, during October 2016, the French state placed an order of about €650 million for 15 TGV Euroduplex trains; an order for 20 locomotives; plus an order for 30 intercity trains to be built at Reichshoffen. Together, these orders were sufficient to prevent the Belfort plant's closure in the short to medium term. In June 2017, Alstom opened the largest train modernisation facility in the UK at
Halebank on the outskirts of
Liverpool. Initial work involved the repainting of the
Class 390 Pendolinos. On 12 November 2024, Alstom announced on their official website that the first of 35 fully automated
Metropolis trains has been delivered to
Taiwan. The four-car stainless-steel train can carry up to 700 passengers, including 108 seated, with speeds up to 100 km/h. In September 2025, Alstom was awarded a $1,066m (NZD) contract to build and maintain 18 new battery trains
New Zealand BEMU class electric multiple unit in Wellington. The trains will be built in India. The trains will arrive in NZ in around 2029 and enter service in 2030.
Attempted merger with Siemens Mobility On 26 September 2017, Alstom announced a proposal to merge with
Siemens Mobility, the rolling stock division of German conglomerate
Siemens; this merger was promoted as the creation of "a new European champion in the rail industry". The combined rail business, which was to have been reportedly named
Siemens Alstom and headquartered in Paris, would have $18 billion U.S. in revenue and employ 62,300 people in more than 60 countries. During November 2018, the European Commission voiced its concerns surrounding the proposed merger of the two companies, particularly that the combined entity would be too dominant in the European market; alleged impacts from such dominance included potential increases in passenger fares and cargo fees. Furthermore, a series of
popular protests concerning the financial reforms of both the French territorial railway infrastructure and
SNCF occurred. The proposed merger was viewed by some as a measure to counter the rise of rival
Chinese rail business
CRRC; it reportedly received support from many figures within both the French and German governments. The transaction, which was originally due to close by the end of 2018, was met with opposition by French trade union officials who voiced their concerns that such a merger would have the potential for job losses. On 17 July 2018, Alstom shareholders overwhelmingly approved the proposed merger with Siemens. On 6 February 2019, the planned merger between the two companies was vetoed by the European Commission. In response to this ruling, Alstom's Chief Executive Officer Henri Poupart-Lafarge stated that he viewed the decision to block the merger was a result of "ideological prejudices".
Acquisition of Bombardier Transportation In mid-February 2020, Alstom announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Agreement to buy
Bombardier Transportation, the multinational train maker headquartered in
Berlin, Germany for between €5.8 billion and €6.2 billion. The deal required the approval by Alstom shareholders at a meeting to be held in October 2020 and approval by European regulators. Bombardier's major shareholder,
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, had already agreed to the sale. In July 2020, it was announced that the
EU competition authorities had approved the purchase. To finish the deal, Alstom had to sell the
Alstom DDF factory based in
France, a regional train division, a Bombardier facility in Germany, and a Bombardier trains division. The company also had to provide guarantees and pass on some of Bombardier's assets. The merger between Alstom and Bombardier was completed on 29 January 2021.
2024 debt restructuring Alstom plans in 2024 to issue €1.75 billion of shares and bonds to reduce its debt, which was at risk of a credit downgrade into
junk bond status.
2024 sale of American rail signaling business In September 2024, Alstom completed the sale of its American rail signalling business to
Knorr-Bremse for $690 million.
2025 agreement with Virgin Trains In August 2025, Alstom closed an agreement with
Virgin Trains for 12 new high-speed
Avelia Stream trains. The trains will be part of Virgin's new £700 million service across western Europe, including through the
Channel Tunnel. == Products ==