Rothschild & Cie and La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild have won the mandate from French telecoms group Bouygues to advise on the acquisition of 21% of Alstom from the government for €2bn ($2.5bn).

The French government had to sell the stake as part a deal with the European Union which accused it of supplying state aid to the troubled engineering group. Merrill Lynch advised the government on the sale.