giant ge to acquire alstom's energy assets.reed to buy a 20% stake in alstom from buoygue and calls the potential alliance not a takeover. joining us is habdil rahman. this is a victory, is it not, for the french government and securing french jobs and interests? >> it is, because they've actually secured a better deal for alstom, plus, they've secured existing jobs and they've also gained a commitment from ge for an additional 1,000 jobs over the next three years, and they can also penalize ge if it doesn't stick to that commitment. so, in terms of france, it's a good deal. >> what do you think siemens has learned from this, because they failed to convince the french government of the importance and the vitaminality of their bid. they're going to come away from here with some lessons learned. what do you think it's going to be? >> well, i think siemens kind of came in because they were almost invited by the french governments. they kind of knew that they had an advantage. so, i think they kind of played that advantage, but it

siemens and mitsubishi sweden their cash offer for alstom. euro next stocks trade. , as london's data tech week draws to a close, we look at how digital information is proving a corporate headache. welcome to "countdown." it is 6:00 you're in london on this friday morning. bloomberg reporters standing by across the world, ready to deliver the stories that will drive your day. manus cranny is gauging the appetite for ipos, plus big data or big mess? caroline hyde has the story. immelt is making his case to french leaders. he sweetened the deal. will france be satisfied? caroline, tell us about ge is improved offer. improved offer. >> they decided to react to the offer by mitsubishi by making his offer more complex. before, it was a simple takeover of alstom's energy assets. now ge is offering to create some joint ventures with alstom in power grids, in renewables, as well as on reliance in nuclear technology. in addition, ge is offering to 's rail signaling business to oust him. alstom is saying that this new goodbye ge could also reduce the c

tension is rising, a lot is at stake for alstom.d see what is the reaction from the french government later today. >> talk to me about the union reaction for this. they are having a huge influence, the unions. i guess the politics is reflecting that. what have they been saying? >> that's right. the unions of oust him -- alstom met with jeffrey immelt himself yesterday in paris. the reactions were pretty mixed after the new, improved offer from ge. instead of just taking over the energy assets, they will also create joint ventures with alstom, they will also create their well business to alstom. mixed reaction. some say they are reassured in terms of job guarantees. some say it will still mean the dismantling of alstom. back in the race compared to siemens and mitsubishi. ,nd there is a lot of unknowns especially about the joint ventures and the maintenance of the turbines. it is still difficult to really choose between the two offers. >> we are still waiting for the reaction from the french president. we got some reaction from the p

but now the american company form threets to joint ventures with alstom instead. one of the power sector, one in the u renewables sector, and one in nuclear energy. -- in the renewable sectors, and one in the nuclear energy. on top of that, ge is offering to sell its rail signaling business to alstom's train making division. the chief executive of general electric, jeffrey immelt, says it creates friends jobs and also maintains decision-making in france as well as the alstom brand itself. here thisdoes not end evening. we are also getting reports that general electric's rivals are also revising their bid. mitsubishi heavy industries is raising its bid. it says mitsubishi is offering 2.9 million euros -- 3.9 billion ands for its power hydroelectric business. they have teamed up with germany combine, valued at about 14 billion euros. we will move on now. top military tech is on display at the world's biggest defense fair on the outskirts of paris this week. this year's show has become a battlefield for makers of drones , or unmanned aerial vehicles. the drone market

ge has won the bid for the energy sector of alstom.eal.ing is biggest ever let's get to our regex, a managing director. this deal does not look like what a first look like when the ceo of ge proposed it back in april. what do you think of the structure? does it make sense for ge and alstom? >> ge would not have signed it otherwise. i am against government intervention in general. but it made sense. it is a strategy company for france and provides a lot of of our energy and nuclear reactors and manufacturing the iconic tv and saved from bankruptcy. it makes kind of sense that the government got involved. don't you think there is a risk that companies looking at what happened, the economy minister actually asking siemens to come in with a rival bid and that intervention am i to deter a foreign business -- that intervention might deter a foreign business? because the bid went through and ge got what they wanted. when you compare it to other government roles, bear in mind, that it was blocked. the u.s. government blocked chinese takeovers

bid for alstom. how they were able to clinch. later in the "the pulse. " ♪ >> welcome back to "the pulse." start of sustainable energy week. we traveled to one of the largest companies that manage to pay 28 million pounds. joining me now to discuss is the travel director, jane. welcome. are responsible for sustainable development. what have been the key steps in reducing your carbon footprint? >> to reduce our carbon footprint for the last two years now, we have focused on reducing the fuel and carbon impact and also looking at the the entire journey. and hotels and destinations. >> what is driving this a move? is it all about concerns about the environment? you have to be watching the bottom line. is there a business case? , thes, it in the long term future of our industry. in the short or to medium term, we realized a host of benefits through more sustainable. >> some people might be listening and thinking taking short flights is going to be bad for the environment. bitconversation and little that maybe you should not be taking

. > the end of a fiers two-month battle over alstom. the c.e.o. says it's selling most of general electric will create jobs in france and protect french national interests. >> it addresses everyone's concerns. this is a good deal, activity and employment will be consolidated. it's a good undertaking for general electric whose way of doing business won't be affected. i think it also addresses the government's concerns. > he will stay running alstom's business. meanwhile general electric will take over the company's highly profitable turbine business and will share ownership of the renewable energy and power grid sector. hey also expect to make almost 900 million euros in cost savings. the government has a 20% take in alstom. everybody seems to be a winner. but the employees aren't all onboard. >> general electric used to be one of our major competitors. i hear everybody talking about them being complimentary and all that. honestly, i have no idea what the future will bring. >> alstom will allow them to pay off debts, strengthen its transport arm an

alstom shareholders?ee is thecan is still looking at siemens bid. top of the government, the president of france is not supporting the siemens bid and the government has no preference between siemens and ge. >> the siemens bid also seems to rely on bouygues, also a shareholder in alstom. they said yesterday they do not want to sell. how much traction do you think this siemens offer can get if one of the key players, albeit on the sideline, might not label? -- might not play ball? >> siemens has no leverage to win this bid. es, with its shareholders, alstom is not ready to sell shares to mitsubishi. i do not see how siemens and when -- can win. the only thing we can see is that there will be some talks in the next days. at the end of the day, ge will win. will comethink ge back with a revised offer as a result of this? x yes. -- >> yes. ge might improve its offer. they might announce, in the coming days, some partnership with a french money -- a french company. that would be something that might help the g

they are interested in alstom's steam turbines. the two firms have promised to create 1,000 new jobs and siemens could split off alstom's railway technology division and sell it to a french company. last year alstom's sales were around 20 billion euros. siemens is more than three times bigger with a turnover of around 76 billion euros and 300,000 employees. mitsubishi heavy industries is roughly the same size as alstom. the biggest rival is general electric. 300,000 employees helped it earn 10 billion euros. general electric is offering $12.4 billion euros for the entire energy division. the french government has the right to veto the bill. they do not want to see alstom broken up or jobs lost. on tuesday the german-japanese alliance will meet with politicians in paris. an all important move when it comes to a state-owned company. >> the bids are on the table now and a new trading week has gotten off to a bumpy start. european shares edged slower as violence from kenya. dorothy sums up the day for us at the frankfurt stock exchange

we want an offer that will be useful for everybody to alstom, mitsubishi, to siemens, and to the alstommployees. that is what is at stake. it is not about dismantling. on the contrary, to reinforce the group. ,> ge responded last night according to people familiar with the matter, saying they will refine their bid on jobs by launching an independent audit. they will check how to give the alstom'sre access to nuclear technology. offer aslaunch a new soon as this friday. >> the mitsubishi ceo was also there, wasn't he? what did we learn from him? >> the question for mitsubishi is whether the french company with a major stakeholder in alstom, 29%, will agree to sell a 10% stake to mitsubishi? mitsubishi has offered 900 million euros. stake, soto keep the i asked the mitsubishi ceo yesterday what he would do and whether he was confident that they would accept his offer. >> i do not know. it is up to their decision. we have not received any comments. course, it is not finished ceo will testify on july 10, which is and adjust -- which is just in a few weeks from now, in front of the french la

take a stake in alstom. in the second phase, siemens and alstom could combine their business. in someld result antitrust issues, but the question is whether this would make sense for alstom. alstom says the siemens deal at the moment is too complex and they were not planning to separate the gas and turbine business. >> the ceo of general electric has done so much, he personally went to the french national assembly to make the case for the merger. $17 billion seems to be enough money. will they have to sweeten the deal? >> that is right, olivia. to the national assembly in front of french lawmakers. he has already done a lot of lobbying. analysts,l -- many their common opinion is that ge could improve its offer on alstom following the siemens bid. the french finance minister said yesterday, we are still waiting for improvements on both sides. the main concern of the french is jobs.t ge ceo has promised that he would create 1000 french jobs. will he do more than that? we will know in the next few days. townve

. >> he has what wanted, again, a of 29 percent in alstom. they're going to sell 20% of the french government. the french government therefore have two names on the board in this deal. >> thank you so much for that. let's check in on markets this morning. new zealand, this is how it looks right now. it is flat on the start of the day. it is fractionally green, but really no move there. spot iszealand dollar moving slightly up it is at -- up. it is at 0.8 seven cents on the american dollar. it closed in red. 1/10 of 1% down, but we did see ahead on itsndex weekly index. longer stretch of games in almost a year. that is the deal there. let's stay in japan. japan is on course to talk about a lot of things, to welcome a record number of foreign visitors this year. more tourists are arriving than japanese are going abroad. as the first time it has happened in 44 years. here with more. it looks like abenomics is working to stoke interest in japan. >> for tourists is working very perhaps not a stock market investor it is working for. record numbernd

. >> who is the highest bidder in the takeover battle for alstom? two industry giants are bidding for the french in generic company. >> siemens maybe she joined forces and presented a joint offer. they end up blocking a bid by u.s. rival general electric. >> the billion-dollar merger game is going into the next round. >> historically, siemens and alliston have been fierce rivals. one is portrayed as german engineering, while other is a french national icon. but now the two trains could be built together. that would create a european champion in the railway business. >> siemens is prepared to place all its railway business in a joint venture, to be led by alstom. >> by signaling its willingness to hand over the i.c.e. to the french, siemens wants to show how seriously it takes the battle for alstom. the ceo and his counterpart from mitsubishi heavy industries put their case to the french government. they are offering 7 billion euros to the energy business. they promise of technological cooperation, and up to 2000 jobs. they say that out bids general

we talked about the bidding war for alstom. immelt arrives in france to make the last push for the energy assets. >> the european rules imply an open market in corporate ownership with one or two exceptions which we all apply to. shouldn'tic in france detract from the underlying reality that we have in the u.k. that is not to say that there are not instances -- you mentioned alstom in france. that is one. we have had this issue in the u.k. where we have been concerned about the impact of a pfizer takeover of astrazeneca. the way we dealt with it is by engaging with the company, pfizer, to secure long-term commitments to the r&d base in the event they have gone away. clearly, there was a interest. we endeavored to engage within the rules. the french are operating on the same rules as we are. >> that was the u.k. business secretary. he described an impressive character, which i thought was interesting. many people describe him as plenty of things. we will hear more of little bit later on. >> back to our top story, the market reac

some breaking news on alstom. us talk about that moments ago.n senior markets correspondent julie hyman with more. we had talked about the rough outline of a potential offer from siemens, which is teaming up with mitsubishi. now we have the details of it. it is a little bit complicated here. siemens says it is going to offer to buy 100% of alstom's gas operations for about 3.9 billion euros in cash. to form some joint ventures between siemens and helpbishi, in order to foster the business here. as part of that, mitsubishi is going to inject 3.1 billion euros in two alstom and will become a stable and long-term shareholder by offering to buy a 10% stake in the conglomerate that owns a stake in alstom. a little bit of swapping of interest here. the ceo of siemens is speaking in munich right now. he is saying that this alstom offer is low risk and low complexity. he said it is worth $1 billion more than ge's offer for alstom. alstom talks about preserving the integrity as a european company. that is something that the french ministers have said wou

they might offer to give alstom the rail signaling business. they might just take a stake in the businesses which they are less interested in. things like the grid. those are the likely moderations, changes that could be made. >> it is all as a result of french politicians squeezing more and more out of the likes of ge and siemens. have french politicians got what they wanted? siemens first made that formal offer the other day, a spokesperson for francois hollande came out and said, we still want further improvements. this morning there was an interesting comment from the finance minister, saying that france has got some great improvements here. he spoke very much in the past tense. we have got until monday for the deadline to be met. >> are we close to an end game or not? we can say we are getting close to the end of the second act. it is possible that alstom seeks to continue negotiations, they accept oath offers in some way, but then will be moving into things like the antitrust considerations, whether the european union will allow various f

what siemens was trying to do does not have alstom's agreement, and the noises from the alstom cap is that they see the siemens proposal, which is pretty complex, as being a bit too much try to do and not ideal from their perspective. jeff immelt has a tough day ahead of him, already underway in paris, of course, but he has some serious advantages. .> it sounds that way would you say that the simplicity of his proposal, as you were discussing, with the opposing proposal, that gives them the upper hand -- him the upper hand? >> there's the question of simplicity and the question of the value. the siemens side says that their energylues alstom's businesses, which is most of alstom, 2 billion euros more than the ge deal. if you read through the siemens proposal, you can see it getting taken apart again in a couple of years. it involves a number of joint investors, bringing in mitsubishi and hitachi from asia . it is one of those stories where i think the company alstom is going to take the sure thing, and the sure thing is ge. the wildcard, of course, is the government. >> and where do -

tosays it will remain alstom.the french finance minister said this morning this deal will because taxpayers money they will sell other companies in order to pay for it. >> still with us for a few -- for a few let's get your thoughts on this deal. it seems the government has come .own on ge you said earlier it feels like you have gone to bed and woken up in another decade. >> absolutely. to overcome the , it is very specific for american companies to use cash abroad has helped overcome the issues with this the of deal, which is not best deal ge could have hoped for which remains a good deal with the gas turbine business. >> menage a trois is one phrase that works in english. laissez-faire is another. state might wonder if the has the focus and reactivity to tom.art of a group like als the french have a lot to carry on their state. you wonder if they might lose a little bit on understanding of the situation. we have to be clear. the french state is not pouring new money into the company. they are just replacing anot

and they are looking at an alliance with alstom. this looks more like an alliance than an outright acquisition. in terms of who decides, it's not really clear. we have a previous deal, that the french government made a lot of noise and had a preferred bidder in the form, interestingly enough, of alstom's majority of their shareholders. by they chose another bidder. at this point they said, this shows that they have no close. really the french government has that much of a say in things. so the government has passed a law, a special decree, to give it veto rights in the sector, such as energy and transport. now, this law is currently being reviewed by the ec. and the ec should come with an opinion at the end of the month. and we'll see if the law will be valid and work. similar law is in other countries. the other question is, obviously, can the government use the law and does the government want to use the law? just because it has the power, doesn't necessarily mean it will use it. i think again what we'll see is a mix between alsto

company news, the battle for alstom is heating up.xpecting siemens to make an official bid for alstom's energy unit in the next couple hours. this might increase pressure on ge to improve its existing $17 billion offer. life from munich with the latest. the backstory is that the french government has been pushing germany's siemens to make a bed. will this be one made under duress? i think that ultimately the debate is something siemens wants to make, the conditions of the bid are the thing that are under duress. how it is manifesting itself. the fact that they are doing as a joint bid with mitsubishi shows the elements of the business that siemans wants, the gas turbines. ge has bid for the entire company excluding the train business. >> i look at the siemens bid with mitsubishi, it is pretty complex. which offer would be more compelling for the french government? at the end of the day, is that is what is going to take to make the deal, get them on board? the thing that is different from this deal compared to others in the states, you

. >>> seempens and mitsubishi has offered a takeover bid for alstom.tephane is in paris while annette is in frankfurt. let's start with you, annette. my understanding is this deal would be reportedly worth $1 billion or more than the current ge offer and the matched as far as job currencies are concerned. is that your take, too? >> yeah, that's pretty much my take and the analyst take. if you look at the offer, they're saying it's attractive for both players, for alstom, siemens and mitsubishi. so they're proposing an allowance for the bulk of alstrom, they will remain listed as a big company, will remain as a big player and siemens are saying that the gas service business should be headquartered in france. of course, as you were saying, julia, they are pledging to create more than 1,000 jobs during the course of the next three years and also they are saying that they are -- there is job security for those assets if the bit goes through. it's interesting in major joint ventures with alstrom. they would like to have a joint venture by acquiring 40% of a

. >> french have chosen a winner after months of ge trying to take over alstom. boy, strings coming attached. we'll look at why the french were so happy to sell to americ america. >>> hello. welcome to the program. it is noon in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, 2:00 p.m. in cairo where a court found three journalists guilty of helping the muslim brother hood organization. there were shouts from defendants as the judge sentenced them to seven years each. the case of peter greste from australia and mohammed fahmy and baher mohamed which has attracted media attention. >> welcome to cairo t backdrop, the prison, high secure jail most prisoners fear. in soaring temperature this is afternoon, peter greste has been dragged back to his four meter cell he's been sharing with two colleagues for past six months and where he must contemplate a seven year sentence. we now have this report. >> the court erupted as the verdict was read out. peter greste hit the stage. his colleagues shouted in protest. deep disappointment for their families too that hopes were raised this may b

for those who know alstom deeply, they know that there is discussion with alstom's contracts being priceding times, and the pricing puts those earnings at risk. day, look, gethe becomes a more industrial entity , it will have a higher level of industrial earnings. that is not to say they will have created value yet. but this is a positive move in general, in my view, for ge. >> final question, isn't ge going to have to up its bid by $2 billion to match the other bid i mitsubishi? >> ge has made clear in a lot of discussions that they are willing to negotiate but are less flexible on pricing. it will be tough for them to not increase the offer in some way, whether it is price or terms, to make this happen. talk about other flex ability they could pursue to close the deal here. >> steve, always good to have you. >> thanks for having me. >> when does this trauma -- drama end? unless they push the deadline out once again. >> which is possible. >> the ge french present operations are world class will . andobless claims that 8:30 leading indicators after the markets open. we also have the phill

. >>> are we getting closer to an agreement on alstom? the bid has been sweetened to $11.2 billion euros in additional cash on the table. >>> shares rise as lloyd's sends off more than expected.. the spot is slipping below the offer price. >>> and we are joined by tele-nor's ceo live later on in the program. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. >>> hello, everyone. you're watching "worldwide exchange." >> good morning to you, carolin. it's the end of the week. we made it through. >> yes, we did. we've got the speculation about shrine that's sending markets higher. and we're still hoping for a miracle after yesterday's defeat. >> down, but not out. >> let's show you what's coming up on today's show. we have a jam-packed show for you. business success is putting cold, hard cash in their pockets. we look at how the region is giving a boost to scandinavian tourism. >>> and are you too cool to cash? we look at the latest innovations that are encouraging us to ditch the coins and

the ceo of alstom ironically said they could dream of a swap with the french company alstom suggestingt is very unlikely to give it -- to access the offer made by siemens and mitsubishi. we are expecting am symptom to approve the deal general electric. although they still need to convince the french government because it that's power, the french government has the power to block the deal. >> stephane, thank you so much for that. sri, this has only been going on for two months. it feels like years, decades. >> we were just talking about that, yes. it's politics as well as the price. >> it's more politics than anything. >> now, still to come on the show, it's a game of phones. will consumers give amazon's new smartphone an icy reception or will they be snapped up like wildfire? we take a look back. rapid prototype a lot of ideas.o being able to pay as we go is crucial for a start up. having to fork out a lot of money up front was risky. we can launch a feature really quick, and if the feature doesn't work, we haven't lost anything, and we can have something up and running in days. and th

ge selling the signaling business to alstom to shore up its transportation unit, alstoms, that is. billion if savings from the gas turbine business. as the price remains unchanged at 16.9 billion. once completed, ge takes a big step, profits from industrials expected to exceed 65% of the firm's total earnings one the alstom deal is complete. today, announcing selling its northern european finance business for $950 million. back to you. >> continuing to go back to industrial roots, mary thompson. >>> at this hour, monitoring the supreme court. this year's term coming to a close this week. rulings on the most important cases argued since january handed down today and over the next eight days. everybody of course waiting for the big aereo decision, the future of cable television in the balance. but also, big important cases on cell phone privacy, collective bargaining and executive powers. >>> the highly anticipated go pro ipo is one, tally 16 companies planning to go public on u.s. exchanges. we haven't seen that many since before the financial crisis. crunching the numbers, next. sp

, -- to the alstom employees who are proud of their company..ut on the contrary, to reinforce the group. >> that is testimony by the siemens ceo. three weeks after jeffrey immelt. lawmakers seeing more ceos than they have in a long time. in france, getting to stay on board is almost as important as theshareholders -- getting state on board is almost as important as getting the shareholders. >> talk about mitsubishi, what have we learned? whetherain question is the french company holding 29% thelstom will agree to sell stake to mitsubishi. mitsubishi has offered 900 million euros for this stake. the mitsubishi ceo was testifying last night. he said he has been in ongoing discussions and would like to see the french, long and take a 10% stake. bouygues is not going to sell, we will have to ues what the ceo of bouygy will have to say when he testifies. >> caroline joining us from .aris the french talking about the train company essentially going to the americans or the germans or whatever, maybe that will not happen. a french train strike on. they

sell its rail to signaling business to alstom. stake for the french company and its 18,000 employees. a decision will be made on monday. moment, julie, this is not just make or break for the french and alstom but make or break for immelt. >> potentially for his legacy. happen, there is some potential according to an analyst who spoke to that he can be laid at the feet of the french government. he is making a full-court press which shows how significant this is. pushwould solidify the jeff immelt has made to return g2 it's industrial roots and the ill-advised detour down their financial path that it took prior to the financial crisis. it's the chance to potentially boost the talk -- the stock price if the deal goes through. if the stock price goes up, that will be something he can point to as a more positive sign of his legacy. >> what have the french officials been saying so far? moment, the french president is saying they don't have any preference between the otherut we got reactions from other official today, the french finance

-- alstom >> nothing new regarding the alstom board. the ceo is strongly supporting ge's bid.e had only one phone call last week with mitsubishi ceo and i did not talk much about the deal. only purpose is to reach an agreement with ge. ge will win this battle. it is obvious for me. >> what is the timescale on all of this? have a formal offer from siemens on mitsubishi. france ceo will go to and will meet with parliament. geexpect upper management of and mitsubishi will meet in france. the deadline for the deal is next week, the 23rd. we should expect alstrom -- alstom will make an agreement with ge. ask thank you for -- >> thank you for joining us. thehes in iraq drive up price of oil. we will put the latest violence into context and weigh the impact on energy prices. ♪ >> i am anna edwards. forces crackedt down on the sunni militants who took much of the country's northern region last week. fears of instability have sent big waves through oil markets. for more on all of this, i am joined by jason as well as ryan chilcote. ryan, perhaps you can bring us up to speed. >> the lat

walk away from alstom. it's crazy. kind of headache. >> alibaba's ipo is expected to be as hot as the temperatures when the e-commerce giant lists shares this summer. that's leading analysts to put some sky high valuations on the company's value. courtney reagan has more on this. >> good morning. brokerage firms are coming up with their own estimates of how much alibaba could be worth when it goes public. the latest is the morning show which expects the ipo to raise $26 billion. it could value the chinese company at $220 billion. incidentally, only ten stocks in the s&p 500 have a higher market cap, including apple, exxon mobil and microsoft. at that point, alibaba would be the biggest ipo in history topping the bank of china's $22 billion haul and shanghai in hong kong in 2010. it would bead out the largest u.s. ipo to date. visa krb which raised $19.8 been in 2008 and the tech ipo facebook which brought in $16 billion in 2012. morningstar says its estimate is based on reports alibaba is likely to offer 12% of the com

they are clearing the last hurdle for the alstom deal.t, next. ♪ >> good morning everyone. ism tom keene and this scarlet fu, with adam johnson. >> good morning. in debt, that is the deep hole but puerto rico must climb out of while addressing challenges like 14% unemployment and energy costs that are double the mainland average. our own stephanie ruhle investigated the collapsing economy. what did you find? >> i met with business leaders and americans who moved their businesses, and i also sat down with the governor. he is in a tough spot. they issued high-yield debt as a positive, but unless they get themselves out from under this whole, they are in a horrible position. you really are tracking people down to puerto rico? the virgin islands changed their laws and states like new york and delaware and california keeping businesses where they are. of every three middle income people have moved out of puerto rico into the united states. but the governor says that this is a competition and he is there to win and make it happen. >> i think th

. >> now for a full-blown battle for alstom. siemens has just upped its bid for the energy business to almost $20 billion. they are also trying to make their offer less compliant. hase loses here, that applications for the ceo. he has staked a lot of himself on this. >> he personally has gone to france a couple of times to meet with the french president to try to push the issue just as the siemens president has. he is coming here. he has staked a lot on it. onet does not go through, could say that he could lay this at the feet of the french politicians and say it was vagaries of french government and politics the cause the deal to not go through. he does potentially have a bit of a fallback. the reason why this is so important is because if you look at how the stock has performed under him, the stock has lost about one third of its value. part of that is timing. he took the position for days before 9/11. the timing was not fantastic. he wrote it through the financial crisis. he did not help matters through strategy and terms of

it is teaming up with mitsubishi heavy to derail ge's bid for alstom. we will bring you a live news conference. >> the chinese premier kicks off his u.k. visit. >> and boots on the ground. troops toends armed help combat the growing insurgency. ♪ >> good morning, everybody. you are watching "the pulse." we are in london. i am guy johnson. >> and i am olivia sterns. also coming up, a bloomberg exclusive. for the first time in three unveilingoschino is its collection in london and not milan. we are finding out why. brandsporsche is making -- making moves to preserve its racecar past. we will speak to its ceo as well. first, let's return to our top story. seven weeks after general electric made a bid for alstom's energy assets, a story that bloomberg broke, siemens has made a counteroffer. we have the details of the siemens did. -- bid. it is a little confusing. >> good morning. you are right. this idea that we had initially giants,ing two european one in the rail sector and one in the energy sector, is not exactly what is on the tape -- on the table for s

and alstom and a cash injection.ge said their offer brings together two great companies so they can keep with the best technology on a global scale. it is better for alstom than carving up its assets. ge goes on to say they've made progress including proposing alliances in energy and transportation. ge also saying it would add 1,000 jobs. their job guarantees in the proposed bid from mitsubishi and siemen's. again, ge saying it will not engage in a bidding war for alstom. back to you. >> thanks for that news on ge. now let's take it back to france where kara swisher has spotted search sharks on google beach and a yahoo! rickshaw. did you get in? i know you were concerned whether it was going for a long ride off a short pier. >> reporter: yeah, yeah. i was scared there was a button that you push and i'd be knocked out the top. i might land into a pile of ad execs who are on the beach. that was okay. anyway, here i am. >> so what are you seeing out there? i mean, originally, this is an advertising conference. now they'

details can ask. ♪ >> more on the bidding war over alstom. mitsubishi have offered to buy the energy assets of the company. their offer values the business at more than $19 billion. caroline connan caught up with inemens' ceo joe kaeser paris. here's what he had to say about what he calls his company's superior offer. >> the feeling is the president is a good listener. he has been listening to siemens and he knows the facts. i am sure he appreciates the socially, industrial he, strategically and financially superior. >> 56 minutes past the hour, bloomberg is "on the markets." declining over the last several days. continuing those declines after housing starts came in a little worse than expected as well as building permits. cpi inching a little higher than what economists had estimated. "on the markets" again in 30 minutes. coming up, partly inspired by michael lewis' flash was, at the conducts an investigation into high-frequency trading on wall street. bill de blasio was whistling dixie when he made a bet on the new york rangers to win the

siemens is offering three .9 billion euros for alstom's gas turbines. make the offer more attractive, the japanese partners of siemens, mitsubishi and he touchy, are offering 3.1 billion euros to create some kind of joint venture with alstom in other energy assets such as steam turbines and the power grid. on top of that, mitsubishi could for offer 900 million euros a 10% stake. siemens is saying is that there offer tops ge by one billion euros because it includes more assets. they knew that in order to seduce the french government, they needed to add a little bit more than that, so they also decided to match ge's guarantee on jobs and to also offer to create 1000 jobs in the next three years. >> what about ge's potential reaction here? saying theyge is are not planning to enter in any bidding war with siemens, but of course ge knows that some analysts are starting to say might be moreid attractive, so ge will have to react. they have said in the past that their offer was flexible. they could offer more concessions to the french government. what kind of

. >> the price for one of the jewels of france's industrial sector alstom look to its future. the german giant focusing on the energy branch. it is offering 3.9 billion euros to buy the gas turbine operations. japan is offering to inject $3.1 billion euros in cash. in all the japanese partnership is putting seven billion euros in cash on table. that is less than the offer of 12.5 billion euros in cash proposed by general electric for all of alstom's energy brang. promising to create 100 jobs, similar to g.e. the french government wants to have its say. it is a vital company employing 18,000 people in france. the french president is meeting with the c.e.o.'s of the companies on tuesday the fresh state has indicated its preference for the creation of a european energy giant. t the german-japanese bid is seen as cherry picking. >> moving on now. there is enough natural gas in europe to cover the european union's needs, at least for now. that is the message from the european commission following russia's decision to reduce natural gas supplies to ukraine. ussian energy company gas

who holds a 29% stake in alstom currently.minister saying that any decision centers around this deal need to be centered in france. something essentially ge did propose in its revised offer for alstom. we'll continue to monster it as we see ge stock slightly lower. carl, we'll bring you any other headlines as they cross again coming from this press conference that's being held in paris right now. >> mary, thank you very much for that. that's big news. mary thompson at the breaking news desk. >>> walt, apologies for the interruption. you were mentioning that you see this more as a sign post but a sign post to what? >> a sign post to whether the company under the new management team or the developing management team can deliver new and exciting innovative products. i think eddie set the bar very high when he talked about having the greatest product line in what he has seen in 25 years. looking at the products that apple has launched in the past 25 years and to say what they're about to launch is better than that sets a pretty hi

the option to buy 20% of alstom from a paris-based construction group. a lot of chatter about the back-an back-and-forth leading up to this deal. here's what jim cramer tweeted over the weekend. he said the ge saga caused ge to sit out the largest part of the rally. if you look at ge's stock, you will see exactly what he meant by that. but here's a deal where, you know, immelt goes over there, and the only way to get the deal done is the french minister says give me a piece of the action. >> it was less cash, but i don't know, i read some other commentary over the weekend that it would be less profitable near term -- >> right. >> -- than it would have been for general electric, but they wanted it badly, and general electric and ge, jeff immelt, wanted to get the ge financial services part of the business below 30%, and this does that in a much more -- >> but now your partner is the government. >> right. >> officially. i mean it was sort of unofficial to begin with. >> you know what, andrew, if you look at, and remember jeff, a republican -- >> yep. >> --

ge is prepared to make a power play over alstom.ortant story next. [ male announcer ] what if a small company became big business overnight? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪ or not? what if they embrace new technology instead? ♪ imagine a company's future with the future of trading. company profile. a research tool on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. >>> welcome back to french energy giant alstom is heating up. >> reporter: we are getting reports general electric could sweeten its offer for the french company, selling to alstom, in addition to selling 12.4 euro, we are all cash for alstom's energy assets. this hours after another report that the french government wants seamens a.g. to up their offers, siemens with heavy industries commit i submitted a count bid buying mitsubishi taking a minority stake in other operations. that altered their assets to 2.4 euro, that is about $9.5 billion if cash. the ceo today said he sees no reason that the quote is superior and really comprehensive. france's go

general electric's deal for alstom clearing the key french hurdle.to hold a news conference. we'll monitor that. also talk about ge's not so hot stock performance. and then it's number five on cnbc's top states to do business. scott cohn unveiling the top states for doing business today, and we kick off all that in just a bit. "squawk box" returns in just a moment. friday night, buddy. you are gonna need a wingman. and with my cash back, you are money. forget him. my airline miles will take your game worldwide. what i'm really looking for is -- i got two words for you -- re-wards. ♪ there's got to be better cards than this. [ male announcer ] there's a better way with creditcards.com. compare hundreds of cards from all the major banks to find the one that's right for you. it's simple. search, compare, and apply at creditcards.com. first round's on me. >>> can ge deal without repower investors? ceo jeff immelt speaking in france about the deal. shareholder and money manager jack gaggen is here to defend the company's underperforming stock. >> from tec

you see alstom slightly lower.this earlier, ge continues to sell out of its -- ge machine, the consumer finance unit, which is going to spin off here. they sold the operation in sweden, denmark and norway to the spanish giant for the best part of a billion dollars. and one more, we're still waiting for resolution on bnp paribas and the fines for tl deliberately hiding the money in sudan for so manyccording to re billion probably to be announced in july. more heads rolling according to the report. a big question for many, carl, will be whether or not they're suspended from -- there you are -- suspended from some operations and money transfers for any period of time. i think that's still up in the air. >> part of our financial discussion earlier this morning. simon, thanks. >>> when we come back, samsung getting ready to launch a new android-powered smartwatch. apple obviously targeting one big celebrity to promote their own. it brings to us the part of the show where we'd like you to vote. we're asking the question

. >>> the people at general electric have their sights set on frej energy saturday night alstom. some of their rivals are trying to spoil their plans. executives at mitsubishi heavy industries and germany's siemens are hoping to counter the weight of ge. they say they could submit an offer as early as monday. people at mitsubishi are expanding overseas and they have their eyes on alstom's network in europe, the middle east and south america. executives at ge have already made a bid of $17 billion. >>> let's get a check of the markets now. investors across asia appear to be less willing to take risks. most asian boards finished lower today tracking overnight declines in the u.s. and europe. market players took a step back amid the recent stock rallies. tokyo dropped to a level not seen since the beginning of this month. the nikkei average, in fact, down more than .6%. 14,973. a stronger yen dampened overall sentiment. market players avoided making aggressive moves ahead of the outcome of the bank of japan's policy meeting. in sydney the s&p asx200 index also seeing declines of nea

companies like alstom are seen as part of the french identity.the state has preferred to first poured billions of taxpayer revenue into alien corporations and then to set its shares. siemens has tried before to use it stake and oust him -- tried before to seize a steak and oust him -- seize a stake in alstom. the government hopes the deal will secure thousands of well-paying jobs. >> onto the markets now, and today, the top -- the talk sounded like something out of macbeth -- triple witching. >> there was a lot of movement in the last trading day because of the triple witching. shares jumping without a special reason, caused by expiring futures and options. the event happens four times a year, and this time, it led to a new record level, but traders are warning the into careless -- being too careless may lead to setbacks. >> let's have a look at the markets. we start off with the closing number in frankfurt. the close just under the 10,000 mark. euro stoxx 50 losing about 1.4%, to end the day at 3302. across the atlantic, in new york, trading is

the alstom saga continues.achi joins mitsubishi and siemens in a joint bid for the energy assets. >>> taxing times, paribas's c.o.o. is to stand down as there's a probe into sanctions violations. >>> and the cakickoff is here. brazil prepares to host the world cup, but security fears remain. >>> we've had few things crossing the wire. david cameron has joined an alliance with the antieuro afd party over in germany. really interesting because i interviewed the vice spokesperson last week when i was in brussels, of the afd party and he was believed that angela merkel over in germany was doing her best to try to discredit them that they weren't as extreme a party as perhaps you might think by looking at the noises coming out of this party. interesting conversation as he tries to explain that allegiance. yet more tension between those two, of course. so, yes, we'll continue to watch as mentioned, the conservative alliance in the european parliament accepting the antieuro german afd party. >>> now, still to come on

they argued their case for a joint purchase of alstom ancestor french lawmakers.ets to thel jumbo commercial finance arms of china's biggest bank here to do is according to people familiar with the matter. it would extend boeings reaches of the world's most popular country and provide a boost for the jet would have struggled to attract buyers. facing a potential penalty in the u.s. over its dealings with sanctioned countries. it is sticking with a plan to expand into american bank west divisions. think west will hire almost 100 wealth management advisors through may 16. welcome back to "countdown." i am mark barton. the time in london a 6:15 a.m. the unrest in iraq and the iran nuclear negotiations has given investors plenty to think about. how best to navigate the risk? joining us is the head of the fx strategy is my guest. thank you for joining us today. let's begin with the data the meeting. he was three months ago when the market got into a little bit of a pickle. when is the fed going to raise interest rates? what will be the main focus for today's meeting? >

plans another round of lobbying on alstom's energy assets.rn announcement about cracking down on f.x. fixing. >> and first let's get some breaking numbers from the british luxury handbag and other things maker. that is mull bury. -- mulbury. full-year basic e.p.s. 14.5 pence and a gross margin of 63.3 pence and revenues of 163.5 million pound for the full year. that was 164 million is the sales figure being quoted and the estimate for 164 million. so in line with estimates there on sales. full-year pretax profit 14 million pounds. they're talking about double digit declines in wholesale sales. for 2014 and 2015. and of course any negativity around these numbers was well flagged. this is a company that's had two profit warnings at recently back in april. they had the second of those profit warnings in less than three months. and we of course in march heard that the c.e.o. was leaving. that's bruno giro who tried a new stratty for mulberry and tried to increase prices and take the luxury handbag maker in that direction. he spent two years at th

ge will be willing to sell its well signaling business to alstom.s might mean the cash component of ge might be reduced by 30%. so as you were saying, siemens and mitsubishi responded with an improved offer. they are increasing the cash component of their deal by 1.2 billion euros. we had a conference call a few minutes ago with the ceo of siemens. he said alstrom both wanted a higher cash offer. lesslstrom asked for a complex offer. siemens responded by saying they will only create one joint venture between mitsubishi and alstrom. executives from both sides will be meeting with the french president hollande later today. the siemens ceo says his meeting 2:45hollande will be at french time. this afternoon, the ge meeting will be just before that. the alstom board has got until monday to decide on which bid is best. in the meantime, they said they would not communicate on the matter. >> thank you. never has the heavy machinery industry been so exciting. share pricesng its higher after confirmation of several takeover bids. all of which have been rejec

. -- with alstom. alstom says this deal is too complex and they were not to separate the gas and steam turbines. one concern is about the jobs, protecting french jobs. latest, siemens and mitsubishi would match gm's guaranteed to create 1000 jobs in the next two years. what is your take on this deal and how compares to ge's bit? >> ge is more straightforward. specific asset. it leaves them with a lot of cash to build out the real business. this one is a lot more complicated. you have four different parties. and there is an assumption the french government would take a stake or be involved and inject some money. are you going to demand or expect anything more from ge and will they up their offer another dollar per share and will they make more job commitments? -- more job commitments. >> how badly do they want this? drama there would be a lot of egg on his face if he were to follow part. i think ge has played this very well. i think they would be willing to go a little bit further given how much effort

on the bidding war for french energy company alstom. bloomberg news reporter in london, matt campbell, joins us. it seems that the valuation here is the same, around $17 billion. what has changed? >> what has changed instead of the valuation that remains flat is the structure of the steel. this is the document that ge in almostcalculated every syllable to appeal to french politicians and the french public conversation. the ge bid for most of alstom and 75% of the revenue is accounted for by this energy verythat became controversial, with a loss of nationalism and protest that this crown jewel of french industry should not be killed off. what they are proposing is a number of joint ventures. this is 50-50 between ge and alstom, and spending their own money on a rail signaling business. the end result is to allow french politicians to be able to declare victory and say that they have strengthened or saved them from what they thought was a horrible fate. >> it seems these joint ventures are in the renewable energy spaces. does this make th