German engineering giant Siemens is working on a joint bid with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the energy assets of French group Alstom, the companies say.
"Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Siemens today announced that they have joined forces in evaluating a potential proposal for certain assets of the French multinational conglomerate Alstom in order to strengthen the future position of Alstom, MHI and Siemens," they said in a statement on Wednesday.
The two groups would decide on the submission of a proposal to Alstom's board of directors "by June 16," the statement said.
The joint offer will rival a $US17 billion ($A18.39 billion) counter-bid by US giant General Electric, which has run into political opposition in France.
GE has run into opposition from French nationalists over its offer to buy Alstom's energy unit, which builds generators, turbines and transmission systems and would complement GE's own power industry division.
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The unit accounts for 70 per cent of Alstom's business, and would leave behind the railway equipment division that manufactures France's prized TGV high-speed trains.
Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser said it "appreciates MHI's commitment to join our efforts and I do look forward to working together with MHI to create a long-term oriented solution for Alstom, MHI and Siemens".
His counterpart at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Shunishi Miyanaga, said: "MHI has been invited by Siemens to join forces and we firmly believe that we can substantially contribute to a partnership solution for Alstom which will create value for all parties involved, including the country of France".
