July 20, 1998
LUCENT OFFERS TO ACQUIRE JNA
Australian Venture Would Double Lucent's R&D, Sales and Service
Capabilities in Key Market
SYDNEY, Australia - Lucent Technologies today announced that it proposes to
make an offer to acquire JNA for AUS$114 million (US$70 million) in cash.
According to Lucent, the acquisition would effectively double Lucent's
design and development, sales and service capabilities in the Australian
telecommunications market.
"If Lucent's offer is accepted by JNA's board and shareholders, we will
welcome JNA's exceptionally strong and capable workforce to expand our
presence in Australia," said Mike Butcher, president of Lucent Technologies
Asia/Pacific and chairman of the board of Lucent Technologies Australia
Pty. Ltd. "JNA is a strategic fit that would give us greater sales and
support capabilities, more leading-edge technology and impressive new R&D
capabilities in Australia." Butcher indicated that, if Lucent's offer is
successful, Lucent would plan to distribute a number of JNA products
globally in addition to continuing to supply them in the Australian market.
JNA's R&D organization would be integrated into Lucent's global Bell Labs
to develop technology for the world market as well as strengthen Lucent's
ability to rapidly develop products specifically for the Australian market.
According to Butcher, the acquisition of JNA would support Lucent's rapid
expansion in Asia/Pacific and the company's global growth plans. Lucent's
revenues worldwide for 1997 were more than US$26 billion (AUS$43 billion).
Butcher also indicated that major shareholders of JNA have agreed to enter
into options to allow Lucent to purchase 19.9 percent of JNA . This option,
which is subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board, can be
exercised when the takeover offer for shares becomes unconditional. The
worldwide market for telecommunications systems and technology is now
estimated at AUS$883 billion (US$535 billion), according to the ITU. Last
year, telecom equipment revenues in Australia alone were reported at AUS$25
billion (US$15 billion).
JNA is a Sydney-based telecom manufacturer, reseller and systems integrator
with extensive design and development capabilities in Australia.
Headquartered in Sydney, the publicly held company has approximately 240
employees and earned calendar year 1997 revenues of nearly AUS$65 million
(US$40 million). Over its 37 years of operation, JNA has established a
strong domestic base as the incumbent digital data network (DDN) supplier
to Telstra, is one of Australia's leading network integrators for
enterprise customers, and has established a successful international
business with large networks installed and supported in China, Thailand and
Egypt.
Lucent is a world leader in a broad range of telecommunications
technologies. Headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S.A., the company
has more than 130,000 employees around the world, offices or distributors
in more than 90 countries and territories, and operations in 14 countries
across Asia/Pacific. Lucent has 215 employees in Australia and operations
that include a cable manufacturing plant in Brisbane, a Bell Labs R&D
facility in Sydney, and sales and service operations in Sydney, Melbourne
and Brisbane.
Lucent designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private
networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems,
business telephone systems and microelectronics components. Bell Labs is
Lucent's research and development arm. For more information on Lucent,
visit the company's web site at lucent.com. |
