The French government has raised the stakes in the battle for engineering group Alstom, telling rival suitors General Electric and Siemens to come up with better offers.
President Francois Hollande's government has given itself the power to veto a deal on the grounds it does not want Alstom, an innovator and big employer, to sell the bulk of its business to a foreign firm without the state having a say.
In a crunch week ahead of Monday's deadline on GE's American bid, Germany's Siemens presented Hollande with a joint proposal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that it said valued Alstom's power arm at €14.2 billion ($19.3 billion), above GE's €12.4 billion offer.
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