It appears that Compagnie Generale d’Electricite cannot yet afford to buy all of ITT Corp’s 37% stake in Alcatel NV, and has settled for another 7% for now, paying $640m and reducing the ITT stake to 30%, which is valued by the deal at $2,760m: it is also in ITT’s interest to let the stake out in tranches because Alcatel’s value is growing as it becomes more profitable.
