Lucent, Alcatel Talk Merger

Updated from 8:05 a.m. EST

Wall Street awoke Friday to news of merger talks between Lucent(LU) and Alcatel(ALA), a deal that would unite two fierce competitors in the shifting market for telecom equipment.

Lucent, whose dramatic rise and fall during the Internet boom made it a poster child for the era's excesses, confirmed that it is holding talks to merge with its French rival. The transaction is being billed as a merger of equals even though Alcatel's $20 billion market cap is about 40% greater than Lucent's.

The statement said the companies are aiming to price the deal "at market." Shares of Lucent, whose stock market value is about $12 billion, closed at $2.82 Thursday and were up 29 cents, or 10%, to $3.11 in early Instinet trading. Alcatel added 54 cents, or 3.5%, to $15.99 Friday.

Goldman Sachs raised Lucent to in line from underperform Friday.

Lucent said there was no assurance an agreement would be achieved and vowed no further communications on the matter until a deal is reached or talks break down.

Word of the deal comes amid a wave of consolidation among telecommunications carriers and the companies that supply them. Earlier this month, AT&T(T) struck a $67 billion agreement to acquire BellSouth(BLS), a deal designed in part to put pressure on equipment suppliers.

Wrote American Technology analyst Albert Lin in the aftermath of the AT&T announcement: "It is not likely that the equipment industry is going to see better growth prospects postmerger in most categories when compared to the buying of the two companies individually."

Ironically, Alcatel was one of the few suppliers to be considered a winner in the BellSouth transaction. The company was selected by AT&T predecessor SBC to provide $1.7 billion in broadband equipment for a fiber optic expansion, and was believed to be in line to collect similar business from BellSouth.

But such jostling is meager consolation in the increasingly overpopulated telecom-equipment space. Both Lucent and Alcatel have battled the encroachment of myriad competitors like Tellabs(TLAB), Redback(RBAK) and Juniper(JNPR).