EU: Thales-Alstom deal was “de facto impossible” says Caine

The CEO of France’s Thales has ruled out a deal with Alstom weeks after a merger between the French train company and Germany’s Siemens was scuppered by European competition authorities.

The same competition hurdles that stymied the Siemens-Alstom deal “would be so high” that a Thales-Alstom deal was “de facto impossible”, Patrice Caine said to the Financial Times.  Thales, which is an aerospace and security group, is also Europe’s second largest signaling company, behind Siemens and Alstom.

Mr Caine, following the position taken by the French state, added that European competition rules should be revisited to allow for stronger groups to emerge and compete on a global scale. “Let’s look at this topic. We have one goal: powerful players. How do we ensure that we set in play the proper conditions that these players can emerge, grow and develop?”