Lucent Secures $6.5 Billion in New Financing

MURRAY HILL, N.J., Feb. 27 -- Lucent Technologies has arranged $6.5 billion in backup financing. The company said that it had obtained a $4.5 billion line of credit that it can tap as needed. J. P. Morgan and Salomon Smith Barney arranged the financing package. Lucent also has amended an existing $2 billion line of credit that expires in 2003.
A portion of the new financing, which expires next February, replaces a $2 billion line of credit that expired Feb. 22. The remaining $2.5 billion from that credit line will go with Agere Systems when that microelectronics business is spun off as an independent company through an initial public stock offering planned for next month. Agere makes optical components and communications semiconductors.
"A critical element of our seven-point restructuring plan is now in place with these new agreements," said Deborah Hopkins, Lucent's chief financial officer. "We are now moving ahead totally focused on executing the turnaround of our business."