AT&T’s desire to acquire a European leasing interest may be one step nearer: it is in exploratory discussions with Kleinwort Benson about taking a share in Kleinwort’s leasing company, Park Leasing; Park Leasing handles the UK rental business of British Telecom, ICL and Unisys, and these companies may be perturbed at the prospect of a competitor having access to their UK rental base; however, it seems unlikely that AT&T would use a leasing arm as a conduit of information to its computer operations, since it would completely undermine its credibility; and if ICL and Unisys are worried, they can always move on to another rental company, although that would leave 83% of ICL’s UK installed base with Park.
