PARIS---Alcatel today announced it has disposed of 4.2% of Thales in a private placement through an accelerated bookbuilding exercise.
Following the offering, Alcatel will hold 15.8% of Thales and will continue to act as a lead industrial partner. This transaction will have no impact on the shareholder agreements signed in 1998. Joint technical cooperation agreements will continue to be successfully implemented by the two companies.
Proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes.
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With sales of EURO 31 billion in 2000 and 110,000 employees and, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
Thales is one of the first European groups and is a world leader in professional electronics in three areas: Aerospace, Defence, and Information Technology & Services. Thales should generate revenues of around 10 billion euros in 2001, about 75% outside France. Thales now has close to 65,000 employees world-wide and is present in nearly 50 countries.
