Thales may be swept up in Alcatel upheaval

By Tim Hepher - Analysis

PARIS (Reuters) - The departure of Alcatel-Lucent Chairman Serge Tchuruk may speed up efforts to sell the group's stake in Thales, Europe's largest defense electronics company which he helped to take public.

Analysts said a sale of the 20.8 percent stake was more likely because of a strategic disparity between the two groups, though Alcatel-Lucent's finance director stressed it was under no pressure to sell the shares to fund its operations.

Alcatel obtained the stake after participating in Thales' privatization a decade ago and later handing it its satellite business and a package of other assets when it merged with Lucent in 2006, keeping defense work in French hands.

Both chapters of Thales's 10-year history as an independent company were written with the close involvement of Tchuruk, who fought off the rival Lagardere family to position Alcatel as a key partner to Thales in an epic battle when it went public.

But as it stumbled through a series of profit warnings and saw its share price fall sharply in recent months, Alcatel-Lucent was widely rumored to be looking at selling its Thales stake, worth some 1.5 billion euros ($2.4 billion).

Hit by tough telecoms market conditions, Alcatel-Lucent, the world's largest maker of fixed-line telecoms equipment, said on Tuesday Tchuruk would resign in October. Chief Executive Pat Russo will also leave this year.

Analysts and defense industry sources said Tchuruk's planned exit raised new questions over the future of Alcatel-Lucent's stake in Thales, whose shares fell as much as 3.9 percent.

"Following this resignation, I believe there is no real obstacle towards a disposal of this stake. I believe things will accelerate in the next few weeks," said Yan Derocles, analyst at Paris-based Oddo Securities.