French President Francois Hollande and his Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg are holding meetings with General Electric, Siemens and the Boguyes group to discuss the future of French engineering giant Alstom.

General Electric Chief executive Jeff Immelt is in Paris to nail a 10 billion euro purchase of Alstom’s power turbine business.

The General Electric move has caused political outrage in France over the foreign purchase of a major French company.

Cue Siemens, the German group builds high speed trains and power-station turbines and has come in with an offer which better suits Paris.

The Siemens bid suggests an asset swap with Alstom taking on the Siemans train business with Siemens running Alstom’s turbine arm.

According to Montebourg the deal will create two global European giants one in energy the other in transport.

Either way Alstom needs a partner as it is creaking under heavy debts and a downturn in orders.

Shares in Alstom have been suspended until Wednesday.