Anti-ports deal crusader: Lucent-Alcatel merger OK

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of the leading U.S.
congressional opponents of Dubai Ports World’s recent purchase
of American port facilities said on Thursday he had no
objections to France’s Alcatel acquiring Lucent Technologies
Inc..

Alcatel is not state-owned, unlike Dubai Ports World which
is owned by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, said Sen.
Charles Schumer in explaining the why he backed the $14.1
billion deal to take over New Jersey-based Lucent.

Last month, Schumer crusaded against the Arab purchase of
state-owned Dubai Ports World’s purchase of terminal facilities
at six U.S. ports.

“It’s obviously different from Dubai Ports World because
the United Arab Emirates had a nexus with terrorism that France
does not have,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, told reporters.

But he said he believed the merged telecommunications
equipment company would have to follow American laws, including
strict U.S. business sanctions against Iran.

France’s Alcatel has a long-standing business relationship
with Iran, having upgraded that country’s telecommunications
networks and provided communications systems for gas plants
there.

Lucent Chief Executive Patricia Russo met Schumer this week
and told him the merged company would create a separate U.S.
subsidiary that would be run by Americans and handle sensitive
government contracts such as those involving Lucent’s Bell Labs
research facility.

“She satisfied me and I’m going to be supportive of this
merger,” Schumer said.

Another difference from the Dubai case, he said, was that
the board of state-owned DP World was “totally run” by the UAE
government, while the board of the proposed Lucent-Alcatel
merged company would have six Americans and six French citizens
on it.

A few lawmakers have expressed concerns, saying they want
more information about the merger, but there has not been the
outcry that the Dubai case provoked.

A bipartisan campaign led by Schumer and other lawmakers
who said they were concerned about national security forced DP
World last month to announce it would sell the U.S. port
terminal assets it had just acquired.

U.S. officials have said money for the September 11, 2001
attacks was wired through the UAE’s banking system, and two of
the September 11 hijackers were UAE citizens.

The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States
(CFIUS), an interagency body that examines foreign acquisitions
of American companies, must still review and clear the
Alcatel-Lucent deal.

Although no lawmakers sit on the CFIUS panel, their clout
was demonstrated by the Dubai furor, which forced the company
to back down despite the fact that CFIUS had approved the
purchase and President Bush supported it.