COMPANIES When Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, flew into Paris last month he knew he would seek out his old friend, Nicolas Sarkozy. The boss of one of the world’s largest companies has met the French president every year since he was a minister in the government of his predecessor Jacques Chirac.
This time, however, the two men had more than geopolitics and the global economy to discuss. Clara Gaymard, head of GE France, admits that the discussion touched on the US conglomerate’s €4bn ($6bn) bid for the power transmission and distribution subsidiary of state-controlled Areva. “Jeff spoke about his commitment to it,” Ms Gaymard says from her office in the heart of Paris. “And [the president] said our offer was welcome.”
