Plessey Co, which is determined that GEC Plc and its advisors should not get any rest during their weekends until its future is decided one way or the other, chose late Saturday night, on one reading its last opportunity coming 60 days after the GEC Siemens Plc bid, to serve legal notice on GEC that Plessey believed it was in breach of its agreement on the establishment of the GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd 50-50 joint venture. Under terms of the agreement, each partner is entitled to buy out the other at a fair price, determined by Touche Ross & Co if agreement cannot be reached, in the event that the other agrees to deal in any way with its shares without first getting the approval of its partner. Plessey is contending that GEC’s agreement that on taking Plessey over, it will sell Siemens a 40% stake in GEC Plessey Telecommunications, puts it in contravention of the clause, and triggers Plessey’s right to buy out GEC’s 50%. GEC will reportedly argue that the clause doesn’t come into play because it intends to issue new shares representing 40% of the enlarged capital, rather than selling any of the existing shares to Siemens. Meantime AT&T Co is expected to make a formal decision at a board meeting tomorrow on whether to commit to the Metsun Ltd consortium that it will buy a large stake in GEC Plessey Telecommunications if the consortium stages a successful bid for GEC.
