The board of Alstom, the French industrial giant, voted on Tuesday to accept General Electric‘s bid of about $13 billion for its power and energy unit, people briefed on the matter said.
The decision, which is expected to be announced as soon as Wednesday morning, came as a French government minister continued to advocate for a rival proposal by Siemens.
A deal would still need to be approved by Alstom’s union.
G.E. declined to comment.
Siemens, Germany’s largest diversified industrial group, said earlier in the day that it intended to pursue an exchange of assets with Alstom that would preserve the French company as a giant in the rail transport business and keep the company in European hands.
Siemens first signaled its interest in Alstom over the weekend as Alstom was considering an offer from General Electric. Siemens said in a statement on Tuesday that it would make a formal offer to exchange its transport assets for Alstom’s energy unit contingent upon it gaining access to the French company’s books and management for four weeks of due diligence.
But both the chief executive of Alstom, Patrick Kron, and the French conglomerate’s biggest investor, the billionaire Martin Bouygues, had favored the proposal by G.E. Under the terms of that bid, Alstom would sell its energy business, which comprises roughly 70 percent of the company’s operations, for around $13 billion.
What would remain is Alstom’s transportation business, long a symbol of French ingenuity and which produces national icons like the TGV high-speed train.
The G.E. talks were advanced enough that Alstom had been expected to announce a deal this past Sunday.
But the French economy minister, Arnaud Montebourg, erupted in public after news of the negotiations leaked late last week. He quickly pressured Alstom’s board to consider other options, including a Siemens offer. General Electric’s chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, met on Monday with the French president, Francois Hollande, and other government officials pledging G.E.’s commitment to preserving French jobs.
Many analysts say that, from the point of view of maintaining Alstom’s labor force, the G.E. deal appears to be the better one since there is less overlap in the two companies’ work forces than with Siemens’.
But Mr. Montebourg, who loathes the idea of having a national champion disappear into a giant American conglomerate, has been intrigued by the Siemens proposal. In that deal, Siemens would be the undisputed European champion in the power sector and Alstom the dominant rail transport maker on the Continent â€" while still a French company.
Michael J. de la Merced reported from New York and David Jolly reported from Paris.
