Acquisition of GE, Alstom Technology to Give Ansaldo Energia Major Market Boost
Italian energy giant Ansaldo Energia says its acquisition of Alstom's GT 26 and GT36 gas turbine assets and technology, as required by European regulators, will allow the company to increase its turnover twofold in the coming five years.
The firm owned 44.8% by Italian state-owned holding company Fondo Strategico Italiano and 40% by Chinese equipment manufacturer Shanghai Electric on Nov. 3 signed a binding agreement with General Electric to acquire select Alstom assets. It follows GE's Nov. 2 completion of a deal to acquire the remainder of Alstom's vast power and grid business for $10.6 billion.
Ansaldo's acquisition will include all of Alstom's heavy-duty gas turbine intellectual property rights for the latest ratings of the 50-Hz GT26 and GT36 turbines plus existing upgrades and pipeline technology for future upgrades. It will also include servicing agreements for 34 GT26 turbines sold recently by Alstom. Meanwhile, Ansaldo will also absorb 400 Alstom employees in Baden, Switzerland, as well as Alstom's Florida-based Power Systems Manufacturing (PSM) business.
The firm also agreed to license aftermarket services to GE concerning PSM's intellectual property for Siemens-Mitsubishi gas turbines and Alstom's intellectual property for portions of Alstom's heavy-duty gas turbine business that GE has purchased.
The European Commission on Sept. 8 granted its approval to GE's merger with Alstom on the condition that Alstom divests "central parts" of its heavy-duty gas turbines business and key personnel to Ansaldo. The commission said the divestiture would avoid "higher prices in a market for a technology vital to meeting climate change goals."
The International Energy Agency forecasts that natural gas is expected to continue to be a significant source of power generation in Europe in the medium term and to grow considerably in the long term. However, as the European Commission noted in September, modern heavy-duty gas turbine technology is research- and capital-intensive.
-Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)
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