ALSTOM COMPLETES BOMBARDIER RAIL PURCHASE FOR $8.5B

French train maker Alstom said on Friday it had completed its previously announced purchase of Bombardier Inc.'s rail business, an acquisition that should make it the world's No. 2 in its industry behind China's CRRC. Alstom, which cut its offer for Bombardier rail in September 2020, said the price for the deal was established at 5.5 billion euros ($8.5 billion Canadian), at the bottom of a range of 5.5 billion to 5.9 billion euros indicated previously. The combined group will have 15.7 billion euros in revenues with an order book of 71.1 billion euros and 75,000 employees in 70 countries. Alstom, owned 9.7 per cent by French conglomerate Bouygues, launched a 2-billion-euro capital increase to finance the Bombardier deal in December after it had secured European Union antitrust approval six months earlier.