What can Plessey do with its 50% of GEC Plessey Telecommunications? It seems that the agreement is that if it wants to sell, GEC must be given first refusal, but as soon as one takes on board the value of the stake in eventually delivering much of the UK public telecommunications market, not to mention the attractions of Stromberg Carlson in the US to a firm already there and looking for ways to expand, the price that a third party would be prepared to pay must be very much higher than anything GEC could justify to its shareholders, and the fierce lobbying by AT&T Co, Siemens AG, L M Ericsson AB and Alcatel NV to be chosen as the partner for Italtel SpA makes it clear that if Plessey put its stake on the block, an auction would very quickly develop, and if Siemens were the winner, it would achieve its main objective in partnering GEC without the need to continue with the bid for Plessey.
