Alcatel-Lucent In Talks With Bidders For Enterprise Unit Sale: Bloomberg

(RTTNews) - French telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU) is in discussions to sell its enterprise business to potential buyers including Unify GmbH & Co. KG, a Gores Group LLC and German conglomerate Siemens AG (SI) venture, Bloomberg reported citing three people familiar with the matter.

The report noted that the enterprise unit has also attracted interest from an industrial company from outside the U.S. and a Chinese investor. The enterprise unit sells telecommunications equipment and services to companies and had 2012 revenue of 764 million euros ($1 billion).

The potential buyers are preparing second-round bids, with a decision possible between this month and March, the report said quoting the people said. The unit may be valued at as much as 250 million euros, one of the people said. The business reported an operating loss of 12 million euros for 2012.

A sale would allow the company to focus on more profitable mobile-phone network contracts and bring the company closer to its goal of generating 1 billion euros from asset disposals by 2015.

In early October, Alcatel-Lucent had announced its plans to reduce about 10,000 jobs globally by the end of 2015, as part of its Shift Plan announced in June. The plan targets 1 billion euros in fixed cost savings and asset sales of more than 1 billion euros over 2013-2015.

Last Month, Alcatel-Lucent announced it signed a definitive agreement for the sale of its subsidiary, LGS Innovations LLC, to a US-based company owned by a Madison Dearborn Partners-led investor group that includes CoVant. The divestment was part of The Shift Plan. The cash transaction would comprise a total amount of up to $200 million, of which 50 percent would be paid at closing, and up to 50 percent in a subsequent variable component to be determined on the divested company's results of operations for the 2014 fiscal year.