Alstom shareholders on Friday backed with 99.2 per cent of votes the French engineering group's plan to sell most of its power equipment business to General Electric and refocus on its smaller rail arm.

Alstom had said last month it could return up to  €4 billion ($4.92 billion) in cash to shareholders from the €12.35 billion ($15.4 billion) deal, struck with the US industrial giant in June after a two-month tug-of-war with the French government.

Under the deal, which is set to close in the second quarter of 2015, GE will buy assets which account for around 70 per cent of the French group's revenue.

The companies will also set up three GE-controlled joint ventures in nuclear power, electricity grids and renewable energy, and GE will sell its rail signalling unit to Alstom.-Reuters