Report Says Siemens Considering Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Acquisition

Siemens Enterprise is the "lead horse" among a group of potential Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise acquirers who are meeting with ALU in San Francisco this week, according to this article.

The article, which cites unnamed sources, claims a "slew of private equity firms" are also scheduled to meet with ALU this week about a potential acquisition of the Enterprise group. HP, Cisco and Avaya are also mentioned as potentially interested in ALU Enterprise, though the wording of the article makes it unclear whether these companies will be involved in this week's meetings, or are simply considered potential suitors.

The notion of Siemens Enterprise as the leading potential acquirer doesn't make a lot of sense on one level; as Blair Pleasant points out in a post today, such an acquisition would do little to help with one of Siemens' main goals, that of beefing up its market share in North America--which was SEN's motivation when it went toe-to-toe with Avaya in the bankruptcy auction for Nortel Enterprise two years ago.

On the other hand, a SEN-ALU Enterprise combination would be an international powerhouse rivalling market leaders Avaya and Cisco.