Re: Comments on the Rumor of the Week
>> Rumorwatch: Nokia and Alcatel in Lucent buyout rumors
Ouida Taaffe
Total Telecom
13 December 2000
Lucent came under the spotlight Wednesday as a potential takeover target of Finnish mobile vendor Nokia, and France's Alcatel. The speculation was hardly a surprise, given Lucent's recent woes.
The rumor:
Nokia is supposed to have cast a glad eye on Lucent, or at least Lucent's microelectronics division. Lucent's stock rose 12% on Nasdaq when the rumor surfaced.
Alcatel is also said to have paid suit to Lucent.
First spotted:
The German business daily Handelsblatt ran the Nokia story on 13 December.
The Wall Street Journal floated the idea that Alcatel had taken a shine to Lucent, also on 13 December.
Background:
As Handelsblatt pointed out, Lucent's shares have taken quite a battering since the beginning of the year, falling by 75% to US$14.31. This makes one of the world's largest producers of telecommunications equipment vulnerable to take-overs. Handelsblatt referred to an analyst from Wasserstein Perella, Eric Buck, who saw Nokia and Lucent as a good fit, both in terms of their products and geographically - though it also mentioned that others in the market were more skeptical. What may be an interesting facet in this is the departure of the founder of Kenan, Kenan Sahin, from Lucent after differences of strategy opinion with the board. (Lucent bought out the billing company in January 1999 for US$1.48 billion).
Official comment:
Nokia has said that its policy is not to comment on such rumors. Lucent takes the same stance. Alcatel told the Journal that the rumor was completely untrue. <<
- Eric - |
