The interminable saga of which companies will take stakes in Compagnie des Machines Bull SA finally seemed to be resolved yesterday and Reuters believes that Motorola Inc will buy a 17% stake, NEC Corp will up its stake to 17% from the present 3.7%, and IBM Corp is said to be prepared to raise its stake to 5% from the present 1.8%. IPC Corp Ltd of Singapore will take a stake of under 10% later in the year. Sources told Reuter that agreements with the two main partners will be signed within three weeks.France Telecom has a direct 14% stake with options that would bring the stake back at 17%. IPC wants to sign a technology agreement with Bull because it is interested in the CP8 Smart Cards and microcomputer sector. But in the current stages, this company is considering taking a stake of less than 10%, a source said. The French government is obligated to cut its stake to below 50% under the conditions imposed by the European Commission when last year’s latest capital injection was approved, and by selling a significant stake to an employee group, should just about manage it.
