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Broadcast
25th July 2000
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CANADA'S
NORTEL SAID TO BE IN $100 BILLION TALKS WITH CORNING OF UNITED STATES
In the latest signs of frenzy in the fibre optic market, the Canadian
company Nortel Networks, and Corning of the United States, are reported
to be in talks over a deal said to be worth $100 billion.
Nortel is reported to be looking at selling its optical parts business
to Corning. Mike Fox reports:
"The $100 billion price tag attached to Nortel's opitcal
parts business is 100 times greater than the units annual revenue
- showing the high premiums people are willing to pay for a piece
of the action.
" The firm supplies parts for the fibre optic networks which
deliver communications at the speed of light: they use fine glass
rather than wire to transmit huge volumes of information via light
beams.
"While the networks are not new they are now widely seen as the
best hope to unclog major traffic jams on the internet and improve
email services.
"While Nortel and Corning are said to have been in talks for
some time it is not clear when a deal might be struck. Some suggest
it could be in the next two weeks while others say the complexities
of the arrangement might make it impossible to reach an agreement.
"If it goes ahead, this deal would be part of a wider consolidation
in the industry, and it comes only two weeks after what was then the
largest ever deal in the sector, when JDS Uniphase, another fiber
parts maker, announced its plan to buy SDL for $41 billion."
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| The
Markets: 16:40 GMT |
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FTSE |
6406.80 |
-11.00 |
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Dow Jones |
12525.7 |
-48.11 |
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Nasdaq |
2467.70 |
-9.91 |
| Data delayed at least 15 minutes. |
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Corning |
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Nortel
Networks |
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