Permira talks with Alcatel-Lucent focus now on Genesys

Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) deal to sell its enterprise phone unit to Permira Advisers, which last week was reported to have collapsed, is continuing to drag the company's stock down today.

Permira reportedly is now in talks to acquire Genesys, the company's call center business, abandoning its exclusive negotiations with Alcatel-Lucent for the entire enterprise unit.

Alcatel-Lucent has been trying to sell the unit for months to no avail; its stock stuttered on the Paris market by nearly 8 percent today, nearly cutting ts gain for the year in half. CEO Ben Verwaayen is looking to pare down the company as he tries to turn it around.

But a deal for Genesys only, contends No Jitter, would only make Alcatel-Lucent's situation more difficult, because Genesys is the "crown jewel" of Alcatel-Lucent's enterprise division.

For more:
- see this Bloomberg report
- see this No Jitter article

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