Serge Tchuruk, appointed today as Chairman of the Board of Alcatel-Lucent, said: "Alcatel-Lucent will be for our customers a partner with the scale and scope to design, build and manage increasingly complex networks that deliver advanced converged services and communications experience to the end-user. That is what Alcatel-Lucent will deliver with an unparalleled focus on execution, innovation and service for our customers: the company will have the most experienced global services team in the telecommunications industry, as well as one of the largest research, technology and innovation organizations in the industry. In fact, our combined company is ideally positioned to help our customers transform their networks so they can offer new kinds of personalized, blended applications and services."
Patricia Russo,
appointed today as Chief Executive
Officer of Alcatel-Lucent,
added: "Through this merger, we are bringing together
two top-ranking companies
to form an undisputed leader in the industry, a
company poised to enrich people's lives by transforming the
way the world
communicates. Alcatel-Lucent is a strong and enduring ally
that service providers,
governments and enterprises can count on to help them unlock
new market and revenue opportunities. This combination represents
a strategic fit
of vision, geography, solutions and people, leveraging the
best of both companies to deliver meaningful
communications
solutions that are personalized,
simple to adopt and available globally. Both
Alcatel and Lucent embraced a common culture of
innovation and excellence
that will help ensure the success of our merger."
A global communications
solutions provider
With a
comprehensive and diversified portfolio of
complementary
products, Alcatel-Lucent is well-positioned to
address the fastest growing
areas of network transformation. The company is
a leader in
IPTV, broadband
access, carrier IP, IMS and next-generation networks,
and 3G spread spectrum (UMTS
and CDMA). With more than 18,000 employees working
in services worldwide, the company has the largest
and most experienced
global services team in the industry.
In enterprise communications
solutions, Alcatel-Lucent is No. 1 in Europe and has more
than 250,000 enterprise and
government customers worldwide.
A global reach with local
presence
With a worldwide
presence in 130 countries, 79,000 employees (after
completion of the
Thales transaction) and balanced revenues across all regions,
Alcatel-Lucent has strong customer relationships with the 100
largest telecommunications
operators in the world. The company will
have four geographic regions:
Asia-Pacific, Europe and North, Europe and South
and North America, to answer the needs of
service providers, enterprises
and end-users in the most advanced
telecommunication
markets, as well as in high-growth
economies.
There will be five Business Groups: the Wireline Business Group, the Wireless Business Group and the Convergence Business Group (addressing the needs of the carrier market), the Enterprise Business Group and the Service Business Group. Each Business Group will have a decentralized regional organization that will provide strong local support to customers.
In addition there will be several corporate functions that support the company including worldwide integrated supply chain and procurement, finance, information technology, marketing, human resources, legal and communications.
"While our respective corporate structures have changed, one constant remains: our commitment to be a first class corporate citizen and to act in a socially responsible way in interactions with all our stakeholders," said Patricia Russo.
Unrivaled breadth and
depth of research and innovation expertise
Approximately 23,000
of the 79,000 total number of employees
at Alcatel-Lucent
are in R&D, including global Bell Labs which will remain
headquartered in New Jersey,
USA. With Euro 2.7 billion invested in R&D in
calendar year 2005 by Alcatel and Lucent and 25,000 active patents,
Alcatel-Lucent stands
as an innovation powerhouse, featuring one of the largest
global R&D capabilities in communications ready to partner and
collaborate with
customers on breakthrough technology. Alcatel-Lucent
also leads standards
initiatives with some 600 experts participating in 130
standardization bodies.
Creating Shareholder Value
Significant cost
synergies are expected to be achieved within three
years of
closing and will come from several
areas, including consolidating
support functions, optimizing the supply
chain and procurement
structure, leveraging R&D and services across a larger base,
and reducing the
combined worldwide workforce by approximately 9,000
employees. The merger
is expected to result in approximately Euro 1.4 billion
in pre-tax annual cost synergies. A substantial majority of the
restructuring activity
is expected to be completed within 24 months
after closing. The
transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings
per share in
the first year post closing with synergies, excluding
restructuring charges and amortization
of intangible assets.
Corporate governance
The 14 Members
of the Board of Directors are: Daniel Bernard, W. Frank Blount,
Jozef Cornu, Linnet Deily, Robert Denham, Edward Hagenlocker,
Jean-Pierre Halbron, Karl
Krapek, Daniel Lebègue, Patricia Russo, Henry Schacht
and Serge Tchuruk, and two additional jointly agreed directors
appointed by the
Alcatel-Lucent Board: Sylvia Jay and Jean-Cyril
Spinetta, who were
not members of either Alcatel Board of Directors or Lucent
Board of Directors prior to the merger. There will be two Board
observers representing the employee shareholders
of the company's Employee
Investment Fund: Jean-Pierre Desbois and Thierry de Loppinot.