The telecoms equipment held its last general meeting, at which its CEO Michel Combes defended the proposed merger with Nokia. The past, the timing and the exchange parity have left some bitter shareholders.
"This is the right project at the right time," insisted Michel Combes deal with many complaints of shareholders AlcatelLucent gathered Tuesday at the convention center. It must be said for the last general meeting of the group before his marriage with Nokia, small investors had moved and they gave voice. Michel Combes, who had already prepared the ground in an interview with Le Figaro on Tuesday, therefore repeated the merits of this combination which makes many cringe, for several reasons.
Firstly, in terms of timing. Why falling into the arms of Nokia now, whereas French has published quarterly results of good quality and even higher than those of its Finnish competitor? Everything is not played in three months the technology transition is underway and AlcatelLucent does not make the same mistake that the turn missed 3G, wished to recall Michel Combes. "We must capture the value that will create a revolution in 5G", "this is the time to invest and not tomorrow, not redo the same stupidity." Now the "huge" investments to survive in this new ecosystem are such that "AlcatelLucent alone is not able to (the) do."
This fact was very well understood by customers since according to the group's boss, they "asked themselves" this access to critical size, and were "extremely favorable" to the operation. The choice of Nokia was that of "complementarity, especially on mobile networks activities." An answer to an impertinent shareholder, who asked whether a marriage with a company that herself had ruined its leadership in the mobile and had to sell for scrap its mobile phone division was justified. Finally, the leader said that this alliance was vital for the future of the group as "expect is to risk losing everything."
However, it is the huge loss of value of the company as long-term shareholders have pointed to the general meeting. The chief executive Philippe Camus luimême preamble admitted that the group had never recovered from the giant merger between Alcatel and US Lucent in 2006. A shareholder has thus held that the ratio proposed in marriage with Nokia, Nokia 0.55 per share for a AlcatelLucent action and valuation was "not acceptable". Again, Michel Combes said that the operation, which represents a premium of 28% on the stock exchange during the last three months of the company, made sense for customers and investors alike that the two groups met after the announcement of their merger. And she associated with the long-term growth shareholders of the new entity with a payment in shares. To conclude: "Ultimately, it is the shareholders who decide to bring or not to bring the shares to the public exchange offer." To succeed, celleci require the intake of at least half of the shareholders and for the moment, only the hedge fund Odey, holder of 6% share, protested against holding that the operation sousvalorisait French.
The shareholders expressed their dissatisfaction at the margin on the "say on pay" the chief executive, Philippe Camus. His total compensation of 1.3 million euros in 2014 has got "only" 76% of the vote but has nevertheless been approved by the Assembly