The City rumour mill is churning overtime again at STC Plc in what has all the signs of a cynical ramp, with Sun Microsystems Inc the latest unlikely candidate put into the frame to take a 25% stake in ICL – for what sounds a rather cheap UKP250m: as Sun constantly has to go to the market for more cash to fuel its soaraway growth, it doesn’t seem likely to be able to find that kind of money; a little less unlikely is the suggestion that Northern Telecom Ltd has failed to find enough synergy in the relationship with STC and may want to sell its 27% stake trouble is the shares are still trading at less than the Canadian paid for the investment, but Northern Telecom is another company always hungry for cash, so it may not feel that it can justify sitting on its holding in the British company.
