Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional and urban trains along with trams. The company and its name was formed by a merger between the electric engineering division of Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques and Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston in 1928. Significant acquisitions later included the Constructions Électriques de France, shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique, and parts of ACEC. A merger with parts of the British General Electric Company formed GEC Alsthom in 1989. Throughout the 1990s, the company expanded its holdings in the rail sector, acquiring German rolling stock manufacturer Linke-Hofmann-Busch and Italian rail signaling specialist Sasib Railways. In 1998, GEC Alsthom was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and, later that year, it was rebranded Alstom. At the time, the company was manufacturing railway rolling stock, power generation equipment and ships. In 2003, the company required a €3.2 billion bailout from the French government. Wikipedia