The European Commission (EC) given its condition approvals to long-waited rail business merger deal between French firm Alstom SA and Canadian firm Bombardier Transportation today. The decisions of EC on the Alstom-Bombardier deal was announced by Alstom and Bombardier jointly on their official websites.

Both parties welcome the European Commission’s decision for conditional clearance of the proposed acquisition of Bombardier Transportation’s Rail Business Unit by Alstom.

The commission has given its approval for the transaction with conditions on certain proposed engagements that consist of:

• A transfer of Bombardier Transportation’s contribution to the V300 ZEFIRO very high-speed train and an offer of IP license to Hitachi for the train co-developed by Hitachi and Bombardier Transportation for use in future very high-speed tenders in the UK;
• The divestment of the Alstom Coradia Polyvalent and the Reichshoffen production site in France;
• The divestment of the Bombardier TALENT 3 platform and dedicated production facilities located within the Hennigsdorf site in Germany;
• Providing access to certain interfaces and products for some of Bombardier Transportation’s Signalling On-Board Units and Train Control Management Systems (TCMS).

The divestitures will be done in compliance with all applicable social processes and consultations with employee representatives’ bodies. The transaction remains subject to further regulatory approvals in several other jurisdictions and customary closing conditions.

After initial discussions with the European Commission, Alstom on July 9, 2020, had announced its intent, in coordination with Bombardier Transportation and the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec (CDPQ), to submit commitments to respond to the Commission’s potential concerns.

As per information shared by both parties, the closing of the transaction is expected for the first half of 2021.

On 17 February 2020, Alstom SA had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bombardier Transportation for the acquisition of the Rail Business Unit of Bombardier Transportation. The total value of this global deal for the acquisition of 100% shares of Bombardier Transportation will be around €5.8bn to €6.2bn.

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