Alcatel Makes Bid for Lucent Unit

PARIS, April 30 -- Alcatel SA has made an initial bid of an undisclosed amount for the optical fiber unit of Lucent Technologies Inc.
"Alcatel has made an initial offer. We'll see how things evolve," Alcatel chairman Serge Tchuruk told a news conference.
According to an Associate Press report, Tchuruk declined to specify the amount of Alcatel's bid for Optical Fiber Solutions, which is the world's second largest optical fiber group, with $2 billion in revenue last year. Four groups -- Alcatel, Italy's Pirelli SpA, Japan's Furukawa Electric Co. and JDS Uniphase Corp. of the United States -- are believed to have bid for the unit.