Fusion Alcatel-Nokia: the leaders of both groups received … – Les Echos

The President will receive the leaders of the two companies on Tuesday. The equipment Finnish telecom Nokia has announced that negotiations with the Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent to acquire the whole group.

Francois Hollande will receive Nokia executives and Alcatel-Lucent Tuesday at 15h. This morning Bercy announced that it would be “ very careful ” the impact on employment and the entire telecom sector in France of a possible merger, following the announcement by Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer he was negotiating the purchase of all of its Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent

So far, the scenario presented as the most credible was that of a redemption of mobile networks Alcatel-Lucent. But obviously, Nokia is much greedier: merging with Alcatel-Lucent, it would create the world’s second largest telecoms equipment maker, behind leader Ericsson AB of Sweden, but ahead of China’s Huawei, according to Bloomberg

“ Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent confirmed it is in advanced discussions regarding a possible full merger, which would take the form of a bid from Nokia on Alcatel-Lucent ” Nokia said in a statement. The statement emphasizes, however, that there is “ no certainty at this stage ” that these negotiations. “ A further announcement will be made e when it will prove suitable ” the statement concluded from Nokia.

” telecom Airbus’

The government expects that “ project details are presented to him faster ,” according to Reuters. Its activities in the field of telecommunications come within the scope of the decree says “Montebourg” of May 2014 which subjects foreign investment in strategic sectors to the prior authorization of the French authorities. The Finnish group will have to convince, while in 2013, Arnaud Montebourg, Minister of Relief productive, had asked the French operators to support Alcatel-Lucent, which was in big trouble.

The government “ will be very attentive to the possible consequences on employment and activity of French sites of Alcatel-Lucent, including Research & amp; development and its effects on the entire telecom industry in France , “he said. Most “ big concern ‘unions is the” The future of research and development, working on products that will compete directly with products currently held by Nokia “Christopher told Reuters Civit, CFDT representative to the central committee of Alcatel-Lucent company.

Shift The restructuring plan, launched in 2013 by the new CEO Alcatel-Lucent, Michel Combes, has already led to the elimination of 700 jobs in France. Nearly 6,000 people are still working in France, out of a total of 53,000 worldwide.

Beyond the “ development prospects of employment and sites that may be maintaining a strong presence in France ,” the government will be based on “ capacity [of the project] to be (…) an Airbus’ telecoms .” While the state has just pushed Dailymotion in Vivendi arm instead of Chinese PCCW, the new operation could allow it to assert its European Digital Agenda pushing for the creation of “champions”.

Hailed at the Paris Bourse, not the Helsinki

For Finland, the interest would grow to his face great rival Ericsson, Huawei and Chinese. Nokia has been the world leader in mobile phones for ten years before missing the smartphone to turn and see the delight number one spot by the South Korean Samsung in 2012. Today, Finnish designs and manufactures infrastructure of telephone and Internet networks.

By merging with Alcatel, Nokia strengthen its position in China, where mobile networks the Franco-American are used by 1.3 billion customers. The group also recover contracts with two of the biggest US telecom carriers, Verizon and AT & T. Networks and IP technologies Hearts activities, which has refocused Alcatel-Lucent since its takeover by Michel Combes, could finally allow Nokia to expand its portfolio at a time when the data transfer is crucial By expanding consumer service bandwidth as Netlfix.

The sale there one year of its mobile phones and tablets in the US business software giant Microsoft has allowed Nokia store 5.4 billion. The group will also consider selling Here, the mapping division, according to Bloomberg. Valued 2 billion euros, this sale could bring in $ 5 billion and to help Nokia to make this acquisition. According to Bloomberg, Alcatel-Lucent is valued € 12.7 billion.

In any case, this ad is sufficient to stimulate the interest of investors for Alcatel-Lucent. In a Paris market almost at equilibrium, the action of the Franco-American equipment supplier telecom took off almost 14% Tuesday morning at the Paris Bourse. But during that time, investors felt severely the risk taken by Nokia, whose action was losing 6.44% on the Helsinki Stock Exchange nearly half an hour after the announcement.

Sources: AFP, Bloomberg, Reuters

.