Euronext-listed equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent is mulling disposals to reduce the company’s debt burden, executives said on Friday.
In a conference call to discuss the company’s Q3 results, CEO Ben Verwaayen said the company did “of course”…
Euronext-listed equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent is mulling disposals to reduce the company’s debt burden, executives said on Friday.
In a conference call to discuss the company’s Q3 results, CEO Ben Verwaayen said the company did “of course” have non-core assets in its portfolio that could be sold. “It is a broad spectrum of activities that we have, so you can make choices,” he told analysts.
Asked about the size of potential disposals, the CEO said that Alcatel-Lucent would take a clinical view on what was necessary to strengthen its balance sheet.
He noted that the company had been approached previously with regards to its patent portfolio. “Actually we could have made some patent deals already. We have chosen not to do it because it didn’t offer the right value,” he said.
Both the CEO and CFO Paul Tufano repeatedly stressed that any disposals needed to be in the long-term interest of the company and not only result in a short term gain.
The executives did not directly comment on a media report published earlier today suggesting that the submarine cable business is among the disposal candidates. Tufano noted however that the submarine cable market was “an extremely attractive business” because of its growth potential.
“We have one of the two businesses in the world that is fully integrated with the breadth and scope,” he said. “So we are in an extremely strong market position.”
A Reuters report, referring to sources familiar with the matter, also listed an enterprise unit that deals with the supply of telephone systems to large companies as a sale candidate.
Alactel Lucent reported a Q3 net loss of €146m, with revenues down 2.8% to €3.6bn.
