Alstom

Alstom S.A.

Type	Société Anonyme
Traded as	Euronext: ALO
Industry	Conglomerate
Founded	1928 (Alsthom)
Headquarters	Levallois-Perret, France
Key people	Patrick Kron (Chairman and CEO)
Products	Equipment and services for power generation and transport
Revenue	€20.92 billion (2010/2011)[1]
Operating income	€764 million (2010/2011)[1]
Profit	€462 million (2010/2011)[1]
Total assets	€29.63 billion (March 2011)[1]
Total equity	€4.152 billion (March 2011)[1]
Employees	85,225 (March 2011)[1]
Website	www.alstom.com

Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are located in Levallois-Perret, near Paris.^[2] Its current CEO is Patrick Kron.

Alstom is active in the field of hydroelectric power generation; in conventional islands for nuclear power plants; and in environmental control systems. It is also the manufacturer of the AGV, TGV, and Eurostar series, as well as of Citadis trams. Alstom is also present in the urban transport market, and is behind regional train models, signalling infrastructure equipment, and a number of associated services.

Financial information

Alstom has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 22 June 1998. The Group has not been listed on the London Stock Exchange since the 17 November 2003, nor on the New York Stock Exchange since August 2004.

History

Year	Points of note
1928	The beginning of Alsthom was from the merger of Thomson-Houston and Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM), with its 1st factory in Belfort.
1932	Alsthom acquires Constructions Electriques de France, Tarbes, a manufacturer of electric locomotives as well as electrical and hydraulic equipment. Transport thus becomes a part of Alsthom
1969	Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE) becomes majority shareholder of Alsthom
1976	The Group merges with Chantiers de l’Atlantique to become Alsthom Atlantique, bringing Marine into Alsthom’s portfolio.
1977	Alsthom constructs the 1st 1300MW generator set for the Paluel power station which set a world record with an output of 1500 MW.
1978	The first TGV is delivered to SNCF. The TGV went on to break world rail speed records in 1981 (380 km/h) and 1990 (515.3 km/h), and achieved the world endurance record for high speed train lines in 2001, travelling from Calais to Marseille (1067.2 km) in 3 hours and 29 mins.
1986	The Alsthom Belfort site receives an order from EDF for the largest gas turbine in the world (212MW)
1989	GEC ALSTHOM is formed from the merger of the power and transport activities of Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE) and the UK GEC. France’s market was no longer sufficient, so the merger was to enable ALSTHOM to export into Europe.
1994	LHB Salzgitter joins GEC Alsthom
1995	Outstanding shares in MAN Energie (steam turbines) are acquired
1998	GEC Alsthom acquired Cegelec (electrical contracting) as Alstom Power Conversion June: the Group is introduced on to the Paris Stock Exchange and changes its name from GEC ALSTHOM to ALSTOM. GEC and Alcatel sell off part of their stakes in the capital (23.6% each).
1998	ALSTOM acquires Sasib Railways (Italy), which also adds the former General Railway Signal (USA)
1999	ALSTOM acquires the Canadian Télécité Inc., a worldwide Centre of Excellence in passenger information and security solutions ALSTOM and ABB merge their energy businesses in a 50-50 joint company known as ABB ALSTOM POWER. ALSTOM sells its heavy duty gas turbine business to General Electric.
2000	ALSTOM acquires ABB’s share in ABB ALSTOM POWER.[3] ALSTOM acquires a 51% stake in Fiat Ferroviaria, the Italian rail manufacturer and world leader in tilting technology.[4]
2003	ALSTOM supplies the highest capacity automated metro in the world to Singapore In 2003 Alstom was undergoing a financial crisis due to poor sales and debt liabilities, with the potential to force the liquidation of the company; in part due to $4 billion costs due to a design flaw in the turbines of a 2000 acquisition from ABB Group, as well as collapse of customer Renaissance Cruises. Alstom's share price had dropped 90% over 2 years, and the company had over $5 billion of debt.[5][6] Subsequently Alstom would sell several of its subsidiaries to raise funds.[7]
2004	January: ALSTOM sells its T&D activities to Areva. The French State takes up a 21% stake in ALSTOM’s capital to support the recovery of the company. ALSTOM delivers the Queen Mary 2, the world’s largest ocean liner, to Cunard. ALSTOM sells ALSTOM Power Rentals to APR LLC later becoming APR Energy LLC ALSTOM sells the diesel locomotive manufacturer Meinfesa (Valencia, Spain) to Vossloh AG. ALSTOM receives EU approved, French government bailout worth €2.5 billion.[8]
2005/2006	GT 24/26 turbines achieve 1.5 million operating hours and major sales to countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain and Thailand demonstrating the Group’s return to the gas turbine market with a technologically advanced product.
2006	ALSTOM sells its Marine Division to the Norwegian group Aker Yards. ALSTOM commits itself to keeping 25% of the shares until 2010. June 2006, Bouygues group acquires French government 21% holding, for €2 billion,[9] (increased to 30% by March 2011[10]) Later in the year, Bouygues increases its shareholding to 24%. ALSTOM launches major clean coal technology initiative with the EU. ALSTOM sells ALSTOM Power Conversion which became Converteam Group in a leveraged buy-out (LBO) deal funded by Barclays Private Equity France SAS [11]
2007	Following a new Graphic Chart, the Group name is now written "Alstom", with the exception of the legal entities which are written with ALSTOM in capitals, e.g. ALSTOM S.A. April: on a test run in France, TGV Est set the world speed record for rail vehicles of 574.8 km/h 25 June: Acquired the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Ecotècnia, and was named Alstom Ecotècnia until April 2010, when the Ecotécnia name was dropped. The new entity legal name is Alstom Wind.
2009	Alstom acquired 25%+1 share of Russian Transmashholding.[12]
2010	Alstom announces opening of a wind turbine assembly facility in Amarillo, Texas [13] Alstom re-acquires the Electric power transmission Division of Areva SA[14] (previously sold to Areva in 2004[15]). A new division is created called Alstom Grid.[16] Alstom opens in Chattanooga, USA, a state-of-the-art turbine manufacturing facility to address the North American power generation market[17] Alstom inaugurates new hydropower manufacturing facility in China[18]
2011	Alstom and the Iraqi government sign a memorandum of understanding regarding the construction of a new high-speed rail line between Baghdad and Basra.[19]

Company structure, products and services

Alstom operates in three main business areas: Power generation, Rail transport, and Transmission.^[20]

Power generation

Alstom power activities include the design, manufacturing, services and supply of products and systems for the power generation sector and industrial markets. The group covers all energy sources - gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, wind. Alstom supplies and maintains all components of a power plant and provides complete turnkey solutions. During the financial year 2007/08, Alstom Power sales amounted to 11.4 billion euros.

The company provides components for power generation: boilers, steam turbines and gas turbines, wind turbines, generators, air quality control systems and monitoring and control systems for power plants, as well as related products.

Additionally the company provides turnkey solutions for the construction and operation of gas-fired, coal fired and hydroelectric power plants, conventional islands for nuclear power plants, and wind farms

The company also provides a variety of services including product retrofitting for nuclear and fossil steam turbines and refurbishment of existing power plants, maintenance as well as servicing under long term agreements for Alstom, GE and Siemens gas turbines.

References

• The company supplied major equipment for 25% of the worldwide existing power plants. Recently, the group won a contract for the turnkey construction of two coal-fired power plants in South Africa.
• In France, Alstom is currently providing the "conventional island" (turbogenerator unit) of Flamanville 3, the third generation of nuclear power plants.
• The group participated in the largest hydropower projects in the world like the Three Gorges Dam in China and Itaipu in Brazil and Paraguay.
• In May 2008, the company signed a frame agreement with Iberdrola to supply around 300MW of wind turbines.
• In the emirate of Fujairah (United Arab Emirates), an Alstom-led consortium won a contract to build a 2,000 MW gas-fired power and desalination plant including a long term maintenance contract.
• In the late 2000s, Alstom won Middle Eastern contracts to the value of ~€100m for power generation equipment.^[21]

Transport

Alstom Transport develops and markets a complete range of systems, equipment and service in the railway industry. With a market share of 18% and sales of 5.3 billion euros, the company is number 1 in very high-speed trains, number 2 in tramways and metros, and is among the leaders for electrical and diesel trains, information systems, traction systems, power supply systems and track work. Alstom Transport is present in 60 countries with 26,000 employees.

Alstom's product range includes high and very high speed trains, trams, metros, commuter and intercity trains, as well as tilting trains and locomotives. The company also operates in the rail infrastructure market, designing, producing and installing infrastructure for the rail network to upgrade safety and performance of existing networks, or as part of new turnkey solutions. These includes information solutions, electrification, communication systems, track laying, station utilities and workshops & depots.

Turnkey systems for light rail systems including tramways with or without electric overhead lines, metro systems and air-rail links (traditional and automatic) are also supplied.

Maintenance, rebuilding and renovation services are also provided by the company.

Notable products includes series production of the TGV high-speed trains with over 650 trainsets sold over 25 years, as well as the AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse) revealed in February 2008. The company also produces Citadis trams; as of 2009, over 1100 Citadis trams are in use by 28 cities including Dublin, Algiers, Barcelona, Melbourne and Paris. Since 2002 Alstom manufactures the Pendolino tilting train following the acquisistion of Fiat Ferroviaria.

Alstom Grid

A third business section based on power transmission was formed on 7 June 2010 with the acquisition of the transmission business of Areva SA.^[22] The division manufactures equipment for the entire chain of electrical power transmission, including ultra-high voltage transmission lines (both AC and DC). The new sector, headquartered in France at La Défense, the business district west of Paris, has four main businesses: products (electrical equipment of the ultra-high-voltage and high-voltage electricity transmission system, 51% of sales), with world leading positions in disconnectors and instrument transformers; Systems (network management systems and big turnkey projects, 34% of sales), with a leading position in HVDC solutions (high voltage direct current) thanks to its expertise in power electronics; Automation (sophisticated information systems for real-time management of electricity grids); and Service.

Corruption investigations

On 8 December 2005 Mexican authorities (Secretaría de la Función Pública) imposed a 27,000 USD penalty and disqualified Alstom from obtaining contracts from the federal government for two years after it was revealed that the company had made deposits to the overseas accounts to the Director General and Deputy Director in order to win contracts worth 2.8 million USD.^[23][24]

6 May 2008 French authorities investigated Alstom after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company had paid hundreds of million dollars in bribes to win contracts in Asia and South America between 1995 and 2003. French authorities said the investigation was the result of information provided by the Swiss Government in May 2007.^[25] Alstom initially denied it was under investigation for bribery in reference to South American and Asian contracts. In one case, the WSJ alleged that Alstom paid $6.8m (£3.5m) in bribes to win a $45m contract to expand São Paulo's underground network.^[26]

Jerusalem light rail controversy

See also: Jerusalem Light Rail

Alstom's participation in the construction of the Jerusalem Light Rail System brought criticism from some shareholders and investors; Swedish pension fund AP7 and the Dutch ASN Bank excluded Alstom from their investments due to the route of the rail project passing through the contentious occupied territories captured by Israel in the Six-Day War.^[27]

See also

Companies portal

• List of French companies
• List of locomotive builders
• General Railway Signal - company acquired by Alstom

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Annual Report 2010/2011". Alstom. http://www.alstom.com/assetmanagement/DownloadAsset.aspx?ID=6fe0f418-07dc-40cc-85c8-af325f94260f&version=a5cbbceaa15048cc8032368281dbce3b2.pdf. Retrieved 3 May 2011. 
2. ^ "Want to contact us?." Alstom. Retrieved on 24 September 2009.
3. ^ "ABB to Sell Stake in ABB Alstom Power". tdworld.com. Transmission & Distribution World. 1 May 1, 2000. http://tdworld.com/mag/power_abb_sell_stake/. 
4. ^ "Article: Alstom Takes Over Fiat Ferroviaria". www.highbeam.com. International Railway Journal Article. 1 July 2000. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63843730.html. 
5. ^ "Can Alstom Get Back on Track? It's a financial wreck, and the rescue plan may not work". www.businessweek.com. Bloomberg. 21 July 2003. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_29/b3842135_mz034.htm. 
6. ^ "French capitalism. Bull again France's state-backed rescue of Alstom is all too familiar". The Economist. 7 August 2003. http://www.economist.com/node/1978762. 
7. ^ Maurice Braud (22 October 2010), "Alstom rescue plan agreed", www.eurofound.europa.eu (Eurofound), http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2003/10/inbrief/fr0310101n.htm 
8. ^ "EU gives Alstom bailout backing". news.bbc.co.uk (BBC NEWS). 7 July 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3873149.stm. 
9. ^ "Bouygues buys Alstom stake", www.guardian.co.uk (The Guardian), 28 April 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/apr/28/france.internationalnews 
10. ^ "Registration Document - Full year financial review", www.bouygues.com (Bouygues): p. 134, 2010, http://www.bouygues.com/document/?f=home/en/doc_de_ref_2010_eng.pdf 
11. ^ "Converteam Annual Report 2006". www.converteam.com. Converteam. 5 May 2007. http://www.converteam.com/majic/pageServer/1j040000xk/en/Annual-Reports.html. 
12. ^ "Alstom and the Russian rail manufacturer Transmashholding sign a strategic partnership agreement". eng.tmholding.ru. 31 March 2009. http://eng.tmholding.ru/work/press/realises/2644. 
13. ^ "Alstom Outlines Plans for North American Wind Turbine Assembly Facility". http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/alstom/43916/. 
14. ^ "Alstom Acquires Areva Division for 2.3 Billion Euros (Update3)". www.businessweek.com. Bloomberg. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-08/alstom-acquires-areva-division-for-2-3-billion-euros-update3-.html. 
15. ^ "Alstom wants to buy former unit from Areva". www.reuters.com. Reuters. 9 March 2009. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSB8214820090309. 
16. ^ Alstom creates a third Sector, Alstom Grid, with the acquisition of the transmission business of Areva. . www.alstom.com (Alstom). 8 June 2010. http://www.alstom.com/uk/news/Grid-acquisition/. 
17. ^ "Alstom opens in Chattanooga, USA, a state-of-the-art turbine manufacturing facility to address the North American power generation market". http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/alstom/43917/. 
18. ^ "Alstom inaugurates new hydropower manufacturing facility in China; New carbon-neutral factory will reinforce Alstom's leading position in the Chinese hydro market". http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/alstom/47004/. 
19. ^ "Iraq: France's Alstom signs high-speed rail line deal". BBC News Online. 24 June 2011. Archived from the original on 27 June 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5zlPy9qp9. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
20. ^ Alstom - Our Activities www.alstom.com
21. ^ "Alstom Bags EUR100m Contracts To Provide Power Generation Equipment To Middle East". fossilfuel.energy-business-review.com. Energy Business Review. 27 October 2009. http://fossilfuel.energy-business-review.com/news/alstom_bags_eur100m_contracts_to_provide_power_generation_equipment_to_middle_east_091027/. 
22. ^ The creation of a third sector, Alstom Grid, opens a new development phase for Alstom www.alstom.com
23. ^ "Vecinos denunciarán a GDF ante UNESCO por Tranvía" (in spanish). www.eluniversal.com. 20 May 2010. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/ciudad/101718.html. 
24. ^ LA SFP INHABILITA A AREVA T&D S.A. DE C.V. (ANTES ALSTOM T&D, S.A. DE C.V.), POR INFRINGIR LA LEY EN MATERIA DE ADQUISICIONES. (in spanish). portal.funcionpublica.gob.mx. 8 December 2005. http://portal.funcionpublica.gob.mx:8080/wb3/work/sites/SFP/resources/LocalContent/594/3/BOL-068.doc. 
25. ^ "Prosecutors probe Alstom for contract corruption". afp.google.com (Agence France-Presse). 6 May 2008. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5if0Wac42KwRglSaQf0G5sCrcfgtQ. 
26. ^ "Alstom denies bribe allegations". BBC News. 6 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7385445.stm. 
27. ^ Adri Nieuwhof (24 March 2009). "Divestment campaign gains momentum in Europe". electronicintifada.net. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10418.shtml. 

External links

• Official website