'Alstom' (formerly 'GEC-Alsthom') () is a large
French multinational conglomerate whose businesses are
power generation,
railway signalling; and manufacturing
trains (e.g. the
TGV and
Eurostar as well as
Citadis trams) and the world's largest
ships (e.g.
Normandie and the
Queen Mary 2). According to the company website, in the years 2006/07 Alstom, had annual sales of over €14 billion, and employed more than 69,000 people in over 70 countries. Its headquarters are located in
Levallois-Perret, near
Paris.
The current
CEO is
Patrick Kron, who succeeded
Pierre Bilger.
Financial information
Alstom has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since
June 22 1998. The Group has not been listed on the London Stock Exchange since
November 17 2003, nor on the New York Stock Exchange since August 2004. When the markets closed on
December 31 2005, its
market capitalization was € 6.7 billion. Market capitalization as of
March 9 2007 was € 13.6 billion.
History
The name of the company derives from the region of
Alsace and the surname of the engineer
Elihu Thomson.
Alsthom
It was formed in 1928 from three companies: Société Alsacienne de Construction Mécanique,
Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE) and
Thomson Houston.
The old GEC Alsthom Logo.
GEC Alsthom
It was formed in 1988 from the heavy engineering interests of Britain's
GEC and Compagnie Générale d'Electricité's Alsthom division as 'GEC Alsthom'. In 1991 GEC adopted the name 'Alcatel Alsthom' and in 1998 this became simply
Alcatel. In 1989 the company acquired the railway interests of
Metro Cammell, and maintained train production at its Birmingham plant until 2005. Today Alstom's heavy rail interests in the UK are limited to various maintenance facilities up and down the railway network.
Alstom
In December 1997, GEC Alsthom had its initial public offering as 'Alstom'. GEC and Alcatel maintained 24% shares in the new company. Shares were initially at a price roughly equivalent to 32 Euros.
In 1998, Alstom acquired railway signaling companies in Italy (
Sasib Railways) and the United States (
General Railway Signal) from their Italian parent company
Sasib.
Between January and February 2001
Marconi plc (the renamed GEC) sold 76.4% of its 24% share. The remaining 5.67% share was sold in June. In 2001, Alcatel also sold its 24% stake. The share price fell steeply following the
September 11, 2001 attacks when a number of cruise liner orders failed.
At the same time, a number of problems became apparent in the new generation of gas turbines, G24 and G26, Alstom installed around the turn of the century. The financial liability for repairing these problems caused Alstom became financially insolvent. On
March 12 2003, shares dipped 50 per cent in one day, and finished at 1.36 euros. At this point it was announced that the most profitable division of the company would be sold off: its
power transmission interests. In January 2004 these were transferred to
Areva.
In 2003, Alstom purchased
Telecite, a passenger information company in
Montreal, Quebec in Canada.
In January 2006, the sale of Alstom shipyards to Aker Yards ASA (a part of the Norwegian
Aker group) was announced. The transaction was completed on
May 5 2006. A new company consisting of Alstom's shipyards in Saint-Nazaire and Lorient was established under the name of Aker Yards SA. Aker Yards owns 75% of Aker Yards SA, and ALSTOM the remaining 25% until 2010.
In March 2006, the Power Conversion Business, formerly Alstom Power Conversion (APC), was bought by
Barclays Private Equity France (BPEF). The Power Conversion Business, which deals in projects and hardware to convert electrical power to mechanical movement, now trades as
Converteam.
The
U.S. headquarters for Alstom Power is located on Day Hill Road in
Windsor, Connecticut at the former location of
Combustion Engineering. The Country President is Tim Curran.
Products
Alstom's products include:
Passenger Rail Vehicles
★
Amtrak California passenger cars
★
Coradia and
Adelante trains
★
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) C (C1) cars
★
Citadis trams
★
Chicago Chicago Transit Authority trains
★
Metropolis Urban trains
★
Indian Railways LHB passenger coaches
★
Israel Railways JT42BW and JT42CW locomotives
★
Korail EL 8000 locomotive
★
Korail KTX (TGV Corèe) High-speed passenger cars
★
London Underground 1995 and
1996 stock
★
New Jersey Transit Rail Comet V passenger cars and
PL42AC locomotives
★
New York City Transit R160A cars
★
Pendolino trains
★
Prima diesel and electric
locomotives
★
SNCF electric locomotives.
★
TGV high-speed trains
★ Various
metro trains
★
X'Trapolis Suburban trains
★
X60 Train Suburban trains
★ 4th generation
S-trains Suburban trains
★
NS Class 1600/1800
★
NS Class 1700
Railway Signalling Equipment
★
Control Centers
★
Interlocking Equipment
★
Signals
★
Switch/Point Machines
★
Track Circuits
===Shipbuilding — Alstom Marine (
Chantiers de l'Atlantique)===
★ The
Queen Mary 2
Power business
★ Boiler
★ Environmental Control Systems (Air pollution control systems, filters etc) for the power industry and various other industries
★ Gas turbines
★ Generators
★ Steam turbines
★ Steam turbine retrofits
★ Turnkey power plants
Power conversion business
★
Variable-speed drives
★
Programmable logic controllers
Rail clients
★
Amtrak
★
Amtrak California
★
China Ministry of Railways
★
Connex Melbourne
★
CP
★
E.On
★
Indian Railways
★
KCRC
★
London Underground
★
Luas
★
MARTA
★
MTA New York
★
MTR
★
New Jersey Transit
★
RATP
★
SBS Transit
★
Sao Paulo Metro
★
SEPTA
★
SNCF
★
SMRT Corporation
★
SJ
★
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik
★
STM
★
Taipei Metro
★
Vattenfall
★
VIA Rail
★
WMATA
Power clients
★ Various electric suppliers, transmission and distribution companies around the world
See also
★
List of French companies
★
List of locomotive builders
★
General Railway Signal
External links
★
Company website
★
Alstom Power Sector
★
Alstom Power Service Sector
★
Alstom Transport Sector
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