Italy’s state holding company Istituto per la Reconstruzione Industriale is not at all happy about the deal under which Fiat SpA merges its Telettra SpA telecommunications transmission equipment with Alcatel NV’s Alcatel Face SpA and retains a 25% stake: it offered to buy Telettra a few weeks back, but Fiat was fed up with political interference and saw more benefit in the deals with Alcatel’s parent Compagnie Generale d’Electricte SA (CI No 1,526); Italian nationalism is aggrieved at the local telecommunications industry falling into French and American hands – Italtel SpA is now effectively directed by AT&T Co; the joint holding company to be established by CGE and Fiat is to develop initiatives in the fields of artificial intelligence, transport applications of telecommunications, and composite materials; it is estimated that CGE will pay Fiat a net $450m in the transactions.
