Alcatel completes acquisition of Lucent
December 3rd, 2006 - Posted in AlcatelAlcatel SA completed its acquisition of Lucent Technologies Inc. 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.
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. and BellSouth Corp.
Alcatel and Lucent said in a joint statement that the combined company will begin operations under the name Alcatel-Lucent from December 1, when the shares will begin trading on Euronext Paris and the New York Stock Exchange under a new common symbol “ALU” .
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.