Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) has completed the sale of a large stake in its enterprise business to China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Center for $362 million.
The company will retain a 15 percent minority stake in the divested company in addition to maintaining an ongoing relationship to support its growth ambitions under its new owners.
Selling the enterprise business has been a struggle for Alcatel-Lucent. A previous deal to sell the unit to Permira Advisers fell through in 2011. It finally sold the call center software business Genesys to private equity firm Permira for $1.5 billion in October 2011.
By purchasing Alcatel-Lucent's enterprise assets, China Huaxin hopes to pursue long-term commercial growth opportunities in the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector.
Selling the enterprise division to China Huaxin, which was announced in February, follows Alcatel-Lucent's move to sell its public sector division LGS Innovations to Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for as much as $200 million in December 2013.
Besides the enterprise and public sector assets, another key asset Alcatel-Lucent is looking to unload is its submarine cable business. Earlier this week, the vendor also reiterated its plan to launch an initial public offering for its submarine cable network unit in the first half or 2015, but the exact timing will be driven by market conditions.
These deals are part of Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes' Shift Plan to generate nearly $1.3 billion by selling off what it deems as non-core assets.
For more:
- see the release
Related articles:
Alcatel-Lucent searches for another buyer for its struggling enterprise unit
Alcatel-Lucent's enterprise sale to Permira Advisers falls through
Alcatel-Lucent continues to look at options for its enterprise division
Rumor mill: Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent could make IPO for their enterprise business divisions