Alstom - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation

Electricity generation

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

and transport

Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...

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

Levallois-Perret

Levallois-Perret is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.-Name:The name Levallois-Perret comes from two housing developments, Champerret and Village Levallois , and which resulted in the incorporation of the...

, near Paris. 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

Automotrice à grande vitesse

The Automotrice à grande vitesse ' is an Alstom train intended as the successor to France’s TGV high-speed trains; the name stands for automotrice à grande vitesse, or ‘high-speed self-propelled carriage’...

, TGV

TGV

The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....

, and Eurostar

British Rail Class 373

The British Rail Class 373 or TGV-TMST train is an electric multiple unit that operates Eurostar's high-speed rail service between Britain, France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel...

series, as well as of Citadis

Citadis

The Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. 1,140 Citadis are currently in use in 28 cities, among others: Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Orléans, the Paris area, and Barcelona, Dublin, Gdańsk, Katowice, Adelaide, Melbourne, Jerusalem and...

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
1928	The beginning of Alsthom was from the merger of Thomson-Houston and Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques The Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques [Society of Alsatian mechanical engineering] was an engineering company with its headquarters in Mulhouse, Alsace which produced railway locomotives, textile and printing machinery, diesel engines, boilers, lifting equipment, firearms and mining... (SACM), with its 1st factory in Belfort Belfort Belfort is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France and is the prefecture of the department. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap or Burgundian Gate .-... .
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 SNCF The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network... . 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 Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of... 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 Cegelec Cegelec is a European company providing technological services to companies and public authorities. It has a workforce of 25,000 and has a presence in 30 countries. It has been a subsidiary of Vinci since 2010.... (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 Alcatel-Lucent Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services... 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 General Railway Signal General Railway Signal Company was a supplier of railway signaling equipment, systems and services in the Rochester, New York area. The company was established in 1904 and became part of Alstom Transport in 1998... (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 General Electric General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States... .
2000	ALSTOM acquires ABB’s share in ABB ALSTOM POWER. ALSTOM acquires a 51% stake in Fiat Ferroviaria Fiat Ferroviaria thumb\|300px\|[[FS Class E626]] locomotive, a mainstay of Italian railways starting from the 1930s.Fiat Ferroviaria was the rail division of FIAT of Italy.... , the Italian rail manufacturer and world leader in tilting technology.
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 Renaissance Cruises Renaissance Cruises, originally founded in 1989 owned by Fearnley & Eger Rederi in Oslo - Norway, was a cruise line operator that operated year-round cruise itineraries to the Mediterranean, the Greek Isles, Tahiti and the South Pacific, Northern Europe and Scandinavia. The company ceased... . Alstom's share price had dropped 90% over 2 years, and the company had over $5 billion of debt. Subsequently Alstom would sell several of its subsidiaries to raise funds.
2004	January: ALSTOM sells its T&D activities to Areva Areva AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and... . 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 Cunard Line Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century... . 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.
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 Aker Yards STX Europe AS, formerly Aker Yards ASA, a subsidiary of the South Korean industrial chaebol STX Corporation, is the largest shipbuilding group in Europe and the fourth largest in the world. With headquarters in Oslo, Norway, STX Europe operates 15 shipyards in Brazil, Finland, France, Norway,... . ALSTOM commits itself to keeping 25% of the shares until 2010. June 2006, Bouygues group acquires French government 21% holding, for €2 billion, (increased to 30% by March 2011) 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 Converteam Converteam was an electrical engineering company based in France, and a former division of Alstom. It is now part of General Electric-History:... Group in a leveraged buy-out (LBO) deal funded by Barclays Private Equity Barclays Private Equity Barclays Private Equity is the Private Equity division of Barclays Capital, the Investment Banking arm of Barclays plc. BPE have seven offices across four countries. Started in 1982 they have invested in over 350 businesses including Admiral Group and Dial-a-Phone. Typically €500m is invested per... France SAS
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 Land speed record for railed vehicles Determination of the fastest rail vehicle in the world varies depending on the definition of "rail".Official absolute world record for conventional train is held by the French TGV... of 574.8 km/h 25 June: Acquired the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Ecotècnia, and was named Alstom Ecotècnia Alstom Ecotècnia Alstom Wind formerly known until 4/2010 as Alstom Ecotècnia, is a wind turbine manufacturer with headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. On the 25th of June 2007, Alstom acquired the Spanish company Ecotécnia for 350 million euro and entered the wind turbine industry.Ecotécnia was established in 1981,... 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 Transmashholding CJSC Transmashholding is the largest manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment in Russia, with annual sales of US$3.2 billion and a workforce of 55,000 people in 2008. The company includes 14 engineering and production sites in Russia and one production and engineering site in... .
2010	Alstom announces opening of a wind turbine assembly facility in Amarillo, Texas Alstom re-acquires the Electric power transmission Electric power transmission Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers... Division of Areva SA (previously sold to Areva in 2004). A new division is created called Alstom Grid. Alstom opens in Chattanooga, USA, a state-of-the-art turbine manufacturing facility to address the North American power generation market Alstom inaugurates new hydropower manufacturing facility in China
2011	Alstom and the Iraqi government sign a memorandum of understanding Memorandum of understanding A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in... regarding the construction of a new high-speed rail line Baghdad–Basra high-speed rail line The Baghdad–Basra high-speed rail line is a proposed high-speed rail line that is planned to operate between the cities of Baghdad and Basra in Iraq.-Announcement:... between Baghdad and Basra.

Company structure, products and services

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

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

Turnkey

A turn-key or a turn-key project is a type of project that is constructed by a developer and sold or turned over to a buyer in a ready-to-use condition.-Common usage:...

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.

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

TGV

The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....

high-speed trains with over 650 trainsets sold over 25 years, as well as the AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse)

Automotrice à grande vitesse

revealed in February 2008. The company also produces Citadis

Citadis

trams; as of 2009, over 1100 Citadis trams are in use by 28 cities including Dublin, Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

and Paris. Since 2002 Alstom manufactures the Pendolino

Pendolino

Pendolino is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Switzerland, China and shortly in Romania and Poland...

tilting train following the acquisistion of Fiat Ferroviaria

Fiat Ferroviaria

thumb|300px|[[FS Class E626]] locomotive, a mainstay of Italian railways starting from the 1930s.Fiat Ferroviaria was the rail division of FIAT of Italy....

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. 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.

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. 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.

Jerusalem light rail controversy

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

ASN Bank

ASN Bank is a Dutch bank, part of SNS Reaal. ASN focusses on social responsible and sustainable investments.ASN Bank was founded on May 1, 1960 by the union of Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging and the insurance company de Centrale...

excluded Alstom from their investments due to the route of the rail project passing through the contentious occupied territories

Israeli-occupied territories

The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...

captured by Israel in the Six-Day War

Six-Day War

The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

Financial information

History

Company structure, products and services

Power generation

Transport

Alstom Grid

Corruption investigations

Jerusalem light rail controversy

See also