Global set to win Racal Telecom sale - FT
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LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Global Crossing Ltd , the rapidly growing U.S. network operator, is poised to win UK business telecoms group Racal Telecom with an offer thought to be worth about 1.0 billion pounds ($1.65 billion), the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Energis Plc , a UK telecoms group, had been widely expected to unveil a cash and shares deal worth 750 to 800 million pounds for the subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc.
The Financial Times said people involved in the negotiations were saying that the cash offer from Global Crossing had been declared the winner of the unit.
Racal and Energis were not immediately available for comment.
The newspaper said the deal had not yet been formally signed, but if successful would bolster Global Crossing's European network to 17,000 km (10,560 miles).
Global Crossing, which recently bought Frontier Corp, said on Sunday it would soon announce further acquisitions in Europe or Asia where it was now focusing its expansion.
"You can expect an announcement soon," senior vice-president Barry Porter told Reuters.
"We are looking at expanding our geographic reach," he said, adding the company would consider an acquisition if it would take it deep into a market where it wanted a significant presence.
Global Crossing is mainly known for its high-capacity undersea cables but it is rapidly building its onland presence, targeting 170 cities of which half are outside the United States.
Industry sources said last week Energis was close to unveiling details of the purchase of the Racal unit. The two companies announced last month that they were in talks and were thought to be in the final stages of the deal process.
At stake is Racal's 7,400 km fibre network, crisscrossing the UK, which delivers fixed and mobile voice, data, Internet and intranet services to organisations mainly in the transport, government, retail and financial services sector. |
