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Technology Stocks : Newbridge Networks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Doug who wrote (15274)	12/2/1999 6:24:00 PM
From: Tim Luke	Respond to of 18016

Thursday December 2 6:08 PM ET Newbridge Sheds Another Executive By Susan Taylor OTTAWA (Reuters) - As takeover rumors continue to swirl around Canadian telecommunications equipment maker Newbridge Networks Corp. (Toronto:NNC.TO - news) (NYSE:NN - news), the firm has shed another senior executive. The Ottawa-area based company confirmed on Thursday that Jim Arseneault, executive vice president of Internet protocol and ''Internetworking'' products, had left Newbridge last week. The company said the departure was on amiable terms. Arseneault's division has now been integrated into two other units: broadband access and switching and routing technology. Arseneault, who was appointed to his last post in July, joined Newbridge in 1993 from Mitel Corp. (Toronto:MLT.TO - news), which was co-founded by Newbridge CEO Terry Matthews. He joins Alan Lutz, the former president and chief operating officer, who resigned November 2 when Newbridge delivered its sixth earnings warning in 10 quarters. Pearse Flynn was appointed his successor. Soon after Lutz's departure, Brian Jervis, executive vice president of switching products, left the company. ''I think it's cleaning house from the point of view of fixing issues that Pearse (Flynn) perceives to be there,'' said an analyst from a major Canadian investment firm, who asked not to be named. ''Pearse seems to be taking action.'' A Newbridge spokeswoman also told Reuters on Thursday that Satjiv Chahil, vice president of global marketing, has been appointed chief marketing officer. Brian Keating, who previously led marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa, fills the global marketing post now. Flynn last week announced that Newbridge had laid off 700 staff, leaving the firm with 6,200 employees, as part of an effort to trim costs to 36 percent of sales from 46 percent. Further savings will stem from outsourcing agreements. A deal to contract out support services, affecting 200 jobs, will be announced in the next few months, a company spokeswoman told Reuters. Newbridge is also planning to contract out mass manufacturing, which will affect 500 to 600 jobs. Meanwhile, takeover rumors continue to surround Newbridge after Matthews said November 18 that the firm would consider offers and had hired investment banker Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. Recent speculation points to German telecommunications group and Newbridge reseller Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) and French telecommunications company Alcatel Alsthom (CGEP.PA) as suitors. Other likely candidates being named are Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson (LMEb.ST), Lisle, Ill.-based Tellabs Inc. (NasdaqNM:TLAB - news), Brampton, Ont.-based telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. (Toronto:NT.TO - news), and Cisco Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:CSCO - news), the world's biggest maker of computer networking equipment. ''Our view, from what we've been able to tell, is that none of the vendors that expressed an initial interest have since backed away. Despite protestations possibly to the contrary,'' said Rob MacLellan, analyst at CT Securities in Toronto.