Siemens' confirmation that it wants to table an offer added to a growing consensus that the race between the German industrial giant and its US rival GE will not be settled swiftly.

Siemens said in a statement: “The prerequisite for this offer is, that Alstom agrees to give Siemens access to the company’s data room and permission to interview the management during a period of four weeks, to enable Siemens to carry out a suitable due diligence.”

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