Furukawa, Corning Buy Lucent's Fiber Division

TOKYO, July 26 -- Furukawa Electric Co. and Corning Inc. said they would buy Lucent Technologies Inc.'s fiber optic cable division for $2.75 billion. Furukawa said it will pay $2.525 billion and Corning will pay $225 million in cash and also receive Lucent's interests in two Chinese joint ventures. The deal is expected to close by the end of September.

The sale, announced simultaneously in the US and Japan, also includes a deal between Furukawa and high-speed broadband access cable maker CommScope Inc. to enter into one or more joint ventures to operate the newly acquired fiber optic unit. Up to $250 million of Furukawa's payment to Lucent may be in CommScope securities.