GE taps China CEO to lead Alstom merger

General Electric on Thursday said the head of its China business will transfer to France to lead the US company's proposed buyout of Alstom's energy businesses.
Mark Hutchinson, president and chief executive of GE Greater China, will be based in Paris to manage the integration of the French industrial company's power and grid businesses, GE said in a statement.
The British national who previously lived in France, according to a company profile, has managed the GE Greater China unit, which employs 18,000 people, for three years.
"Mark has presided over tremendous growth in our China business and has continued to build on our status as a trusted partner, supporting the government's growth priorities,"said John Rice, vice chairman of GE, in a statement.
"His deep knowledge of GE and experience in global markets, make him the right person for this important role."
Hutchinson began his career with the Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE in 1994. He has been involved in a wide range of the company's businesses, and led GE's capital markets team for a decade.
GE named Rachel Duan, the head of GE China Healthcare since 2010, to succeed him as president and CEO of GE Greater China, while also keeping her current responsibilities.
GE won a two-month deeply political battle to buy the energy arm of Alstom in late June, in the face of French government opposition and a rival joint offer from Germany's Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan.
France agreed to the bid on the condition that, while GE could take the whole of Alstom's gas turbine business,  the government would hold a stake in GE-French joint ventures for Alstom's nuclear, steam turbine, offshore wind and hydro power businesses.