Alcatel, Lucent Unveil Merged Name

The couple of the year in the network equipment industry, Alcatel and Lucent Technologies, will play it safe with their married name.

The merged company will be called Alcatel Lucent, according to an invitation to a special Lucent Technologies shareholder meeting on Sept. 7. The document was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At the meeting in Wilmington, Del., where Lucent is incorporated, investors will be asked to vote for the deal that was announced April 2. Lucent’s board has unanimously approved it.

The merger will bring together two of the world’s biggest networking vendors into a company with estimated annual revenue of about 21 billion euros (US$25 billion). Both companies are major vendors to service providers. Alcatel has remained in the enterprise communications business, while Lucent spun off its enterprise segment as Avaya in 2000.

Lucent shareholders will own about 40 percent of the combined company, with Alcatel investors holding the rest. The companies said in April they expected regulatory and shareholder approvals within six months to a year. The European Commission gave its approval last month.

Pat Russo, Lucent chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), will run Alcatel Lucent from Paris, which is Alcatel’s home base. She will be CEO, while current Alcatel Chairman and CEO Serge Tchuruk will be nonexecutive chairman.

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)

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