Alcatel-Lucent initiates Thales sale

Alcatel-Lucent  is following through on its previously reported intention to sell a stake in Thales, its defense technology unit, to fellow French company Dassault Group for $1.9 billion. That will buy Dassault a 20.8 percent piece of Thales. The move could help Alcatel-Lucent as it continues in financial recovery mode, and the deal apparently helped goose the company's stock price a bit yesterday. Even though it's just a minority stake in a property that isn't exactly core to Alcatel-Lucent, some observers are seeing it as more evidence that new CEO Ben Verwaayen is not hesitant to make decisive moves early in his tenure.

For more:
- The Wall Street Journal reports

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