Alstom says will continue to defend GE deal with EU regulators

French firm Alstom said it will continue providing evidence on the positive impact, of the planned sale of its power business to General Electric (GE), in Europe.

Alstom, in a 12 July statement, said: "There have been press comments that a 'statement of objections' would be issued by the European Commission associated with the investigation of the sale of Alstom's Energy businesses to General Electric.

"This is a usual step in a phase II merger case and it does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation. This will allow both General Electric and Alstom to address specific matters pointed out by the investigating team.

"We will continue to provide evidence on the positive impact of this deal for Europe, including the future competitive landscape."

The French engineering group's comments followed a Reuters report that said GE needed to offer bigger concessions to win EU approval for the €12.4bn (£8.97bn, $13.91bn) deal as regulators plan to warn the American firm that it will harm competition.

GE told Reuters on 11 June that it was working constructively with European regulators. "We are focused on a positive outcome that preserves the deal economics," it said, adding it was confident of closing the deal in the second-half of 2015.