Reuters Comments on the Merger
>> Alcatel Completes Acquisition Of Lucent
Reuters (New York)
November 30, 2006
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Alcatel SA (CGEP.PA) (ALA.N) completed its acquisition of Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU.N) on Thursday, creating one of the world's biggest suppliers of network equipment for mobile phones and high-speed Internet.
The deal, valued at around $11.5 billion and approved by President George W. Bush earlier this month, is expected to help both companies boost their competitive clout.
Their combined annual revenue is estimated at around $25 billion, rivaling that of leading network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO).
The deal comes amid increasing competition in the industry as customers in the telecommunications industry consolidate, such as the planned merger between AT&T Inc. (T.N) and BellSouth Corp. (BLS.N).
Alcatel and Lucent said in a joint statement that the combined company will begin operations under the name Alcatel-Lucent from Dec. 1, when the shares will begin trading on Euronext Paris and the New York Stock Exchange under a new common symbol "ALU" (ALU.N: Quote, Profile , Research) (ALU.PA: Quote, Profile , Research).
The company's headquarters will be in Paris.
Patricia Russo, formerly Lucent's chief executive, was appointed chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent. She faces the challenge of dealing with unions as the company plans to cut thousands of jobs in Western Europe and North America.
As a result of the merger, each outstanding share of Lucent common stock has been converted into the right to receive 0.1952 of an Alcatel ADS.
Following the completion of the merger, about 2.31 billion ordinary shares of Alcatel-Lucent are outstanding, they said. ###
>> Alcatel-Lucent Pledges To Beat Market Growth
Astrid Wendlandt (Paris)
Reuters
December 1, 2006
tinyurl.com
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU.PA) pledged to beat market growth and battle fierce competition as it started operating as a newly merged Franco-American supplier of telecoms gear on Friday.
"Our ambition is to grow faster than the market," Serge Tchuruk, Alcatel's former chief executive who is non-executive chairman of the combined group, told a news conference in Paris.
Alcatel-Lucent, which supplies telecoms operators with mobile and fixed-network equipment, has said it expected the telecoms carrier market in 2006 to grow in the mid-single-digit percentage range, or about 5 percent.
The group said it expected deployment of Internet-Protocol-based TV services and networks would continue to drive growth in the near future.
However, it acknowledged the effect of the company's merger process could have affected customers' purchasing decisions but declined to give details. "I would not want to predict the impact," said Patricia Russo, Lucent's former chief executive and who has taken over as chief executive of Alcatel-Lucent.
"It is true that when your company goes through the merger we are going through, you create uncertainty for your customers and for people for a certain amount of time," Russo said.
"It is human and realistic there is some impact for short period of time," she added.
Russo said the group was ready to execute its merger plans and would soon begin a restructuring that includes cutting about 9,000 jobs in Western Europe and North America.
State Of Mind
Russo, 54, on Friday became the only female head of a Paris-listed CAC-40 blue-chip company, but said this was not an issue for her.
"I don't tend to think in gender terms. I don't think expectations of me as a chief executive of Lucent or as chief executive of Alcatel would be any different whether I was male or female," she said.
Russo also said on Friday she planned to learn French, reversing previous statements made by spokesmen.
"I don't want it to be an issue. I have always known that it would be helpful for me -- even if English is the language of the company -- to be able to speak more French and to be able to understand it," Russo said.
Russo said she had found herself a flat in Paris and was in the process of finalising the rental details. ###
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