Fergie's Tech Blog

Huawei, Marconi Deal Hits Snag

Via Red Herring.

The rumored purchase of Marconi, the British telecommunications equipment maker, by Huawei, a Chinese networking gear manufacturer, is already ensnared in a tangled international web.

The United Kingdom-based trade union, Amicus, is calling on the U.K. government to review any possible sale of Marconi under the country’s mergers and acquisitions framework.

Amicus considers Marconi’s intellectual property to be so critical to national security that it should be prevented from falling into the hands of certain foreign governments.

But perhaps the toughest hurdle that awaits a Huawei/Marconi merger will most likely come from the United States. Marconi owns Fore Systems and Reltec, two U.S. companies it bought during the telecommunications bubble period. Fore Systems and Reltec now operate as Marconi’s data networks division.

posted by Fergie @ 8/09/2005 08:33:00 AM