Lucent Sets Up Venture Capital Fund

Lucent Technologies, the manufacturing company spun off in 1996 by AT&T; Corp., has formed a venture capital fund to invest in new technologies, and its chairman will step down to head the unit, the company said. The new fund, Lucent Venture Partners Inc., will be financed initially with $100 million and seek investments in emerging technologies such as data networking, semiconductors and communications software, Lucent said. Lucent Chairman Henry Schacht will step down to become chairman of the new fund. Schacht came out of retirement to head Lucent after AT&T; spun the company off. Separately, Lucent said it approved a 2-for-1 stock split, effective April 1 to shareholders of record March 6, and raised its quarterly dividend to 8 cents a share from 7.5 cents on a pre-split basis. Its stock surged $5.44 to close at $98 on the New York Stock Exchange.