France Telecom Makes a Deal to Acquire Control of Equant

France Telecom reached an agreement to acquire control of network service provider Equant, which it will merge with its Global One corporate telecom unit to create a powerful world leader in business data communications. France Telecom will acquire a 34% stake in Equant from airlines cooperative SITA for about $2.97 billion in stock and will invest about $1 billion in cash in the new group under the long-awaited deal. The French company will have a 54.3% stake in the new entity, to be named in six months. Equant will boost Global One’s customer base to 3,700 large-business clients, including 75 of the world’s top 100 companies, and lift sales to around $2.5 billion to $3 billion in 2000. Amsterdam-based Equant’s high-speed global data network, built up from an aging airline-reservation system, had attracted a cluster of suitors, including Bermuda-based Global Crossing. But SITA, Equant’s largest shareholder, had resisted. The new deal, which SITA agreed to in the last few days, keeps an operating agreement with SITA that should ensure air traffic remains a cash cow for Equant, along with financial-markets income from its Radianz joint venture with Reuters.