Lucent Closes Fiber Sales

MURRAY HILL, N.J. -- Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced that it has completed the sale of its Atlanta-based Optical Fiber Solutions (OFS) business to Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Tokyo: 5801). Lucent will receive $2.3 billion from Furukawa for the major portion of the business, $225 million less than originally agreed. As was announced on July 24, Furukawa and CommScope (NYSE: CTV) will form a venture to operate a portion of the OFS business. In a separate agreement also announced July 24, Corning is purchasing the remaining portion of Lucent's OFS business, which consists of interest in two joint ventures in China -- Lucent Technologies Shanghai Fiber Optic Co. Ltd. and Lucent Technologies Beijing Fiber Optic Cable Co., Ltd. Corning will pay Lucent $225 million for its interests in these businesses. This transaction is subject to various approvals, including Chinese governmental approval. Lucent commented that the sale of this business is one in a series of moves to sharpen its focus on meeting the needs of the world's largest service providers for advanced broadband and mobile infrastructure technology. This also is an opportunity for the OFS business to expand its position as a leading optical fiber, fiber optical cable, fiber apparatus and specialty fiber and components manufacturer.Lucent Technologies Inc.