BERLIN (Reuters) - French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said on Friday Paris and Berlin would discuss common initiatives on Alstom, which is the target of a takeover bid from U.S. giant General Electric.
"It's necessary for the governments to exchange their views and possibly take common initiatives if they so choose. All this is on the table," Montebourg told reporters ahead of a meeting with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel.
The French government has signalled it would prefer a tie-up with German conglomerate Siemens (DE:SIEGn), which is also considering an offer. On Friday it said it wanted French state-controlled nuclear group Areva to take over Alstom's offshore wind turbine unit if GE's bid for Alstom succeeded.
(Reporting by Noah Barkin, writing by Annika Breidthardt)