Showing that it is no less adept than its tormentor, GEC Plc, in playing the divide-and-rule game when confronted by the threat of a hostile consortium takeover bid, Plessey Co Plc on Tuesday sought to drive a big wedge between GEC and its would-be partner Siemens AG by proposing in Munich that Siemens forget about GEC and talk direct to Plessey about collaboration in telecommunications. According to Agence France Presse the proposal was made by Plessey’s director of corporate development Philip Parker, who affirmed that GEC Plessey Telecommunications was open to outside partners. We’d be very happy to talk to Siemens about a joint venture for GEC Plessey, said Parker, who reckons that Plessey has a real chance of winning full control of GEC Plessey in its Court of Appeal hearing going on this week. He also described the move by Siemens to join GEC in a hostile bid as a miscalculation by Siemens chief Karlheinz Kaske. He also said that two or three US companies had approached Plessey asking to be considered as partners for GEC Plessey if Plessey does win the day. GEC played the divide-and-rule game when it agreed a string of joint ventures with General Electric Co Inc at a time when GE was considering participation in the Metsun Ltd consortium that was looking at a break-up bid for Plessey. The GE-GEC deal has still not been signed, and some observers fear that it will collapse.
