Worry for iconic French trains under German merger

The maker of France's iconic TGV trains is set to announce a merger with German industrial leader Siemens in a giant and politically tricky deal that will create a new European champion.
The board of partly state-controlled Alstom, the manufacturer of French high-speed trains which are a source of national pride, is set to meet today to discuss the tie-up with its German competitor.
Takeovers of major industrial companies are extremely sensitive in France, where successive governments have sought to protect the country's manufacturing capacity and avoid major job losses.
"It's a huge rip-off organised by the state which will place Alstom Transports, one of the French industrial jewels, under complete domination by Siemens," said the hard-right nationalist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.

"It will allow Siemens, without spending a cent, to become the owner of our technology, our trademarks," he added in one of the first attacks on the deal.
The supervisory board of Munich-based Siemens is also meeting Tuesday to discuss a potential deal, as well as further ventures with Canada's Bombardier group whose European operations are based in Germany.
The Alstom-Siemens merger has been mooted for years and would complete the dismantling of the French group which sold off its energy business to American rival General Electric last year in a 9.5-billion-euro (USD 11.3-billion) deal.
The structuring of the deal -- including the future management and final ownership -- is being worked out, media reports say, but the French state is expected to have no stake in the new company.