Cornerstone Research analyzed the competitive implications of the target company’s financial position in GE’s multibillion-dollar acquisition of Alstom’s energy-related business.
Retained by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Counsel for GE retained Cornerstone Research and Professor Anil Shivdasani of the University of North Carolina to analyze antitrust issues raised by the European Commission (EC) in its investigation of the GE-Alstom merger. The Commission approved the transaction on September 8, 2015, pending GE’s sale of part of Alstom’s heavy-duty gas turbine business.
Professor Shivdasani presented his results in front of a panel of EC antitrust authorities.
In April 2014, GE made an offer to acquire Alstom’s thermal power, renewable energy, and grid business sectors for $13.5 billion enterprise value. The EC was concerned about the merger’s effect on competition in the market for heavy-duty gas turbines, and it carried out a wide-ranging antitrust investigation of this market.
Professor Shivdasani conducted a financial analysis of Alstom’s business model, and the relevance of that model to Alstom’s competitiveness. Working with Cornerstone Research, Professor Shivdasani presented his results in front of a panel of EC antitrust authorities in July 2015.
The EC announced on September 8, 2015 that the proposed transaction could go forward provided that GE sold some of Alstom’s assets related to heavy-duty gas turbines to the Italian company Ansaldo.