S/NS? I'm just not sure on this one.

[Kevster]

Well I'm at work today on a project conference call when someone at my office sends me this:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...YdRD0&refer=uk

Being as they are already kind of a global player, I am a little concerned. Then again, I'm still going to Europe on the company's dime in a couple weeks and the tickets are paid for so what the hell?

EDIT:

Well my company, Infonet, is making business news today. British Telecom is going to be aquiring us pending FCC and Pentagon approvals. We had an all-hands meeting and nothing was answered since the CEO is in Europe right now. We got to watch a video! It would have been better if it was pr0n!

Thanks to this "deal" with BT, I'll be out about $9k off the top since a lot of my stock is priced higher than their offer. Also, my underwater stock options will likely vaporize. Best of all, all the engineering will likely be relocated to England, thus eliminating my job in about a year or two.

My company's CEO makes $16M on the deal and gets a hefty pension of $2M per year until he dies. %$#@!&%$#@@#@#$@$#@$#@#@!$#@#@#@$##!!.

[Maarchk]

Well I'm at work today on a project conference call when someone at my office sends me this:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...YdRD0&refer=uk

Being as they are already kind of a global player, I am a little concerned. Then again, I'm still going to Europe on the company's dime in a couple weeks and the tickets are paid for so what the hell?

Guess i am hoping for a little more detail from you. I assume your company is the one being bought out? And you think that they might not need you to travel? Guess i am a little lost. Sorry if i am being ignorant to this.

[Nija]

Sounds like a good time to polish up the resume

[Kevster]

Guess i am hoping for a little more detail from you. I assume your company is the one being bought out? And you think that they might not need you to travel? Guess i am a little lost. Sorry if i am being ignorant to this.

I have worked for Infonet for over 5 years. I am traveling in two weeks, the tickets are paid for and the people are all lined up to get the training from me so that is not an issue. Pending FCC approval, I could be working for BT in the future. That is what I'm not so sure about.

On a side note, I am working on a new high-speed wireless networking venture part-time that could really pan out. After today it looks like we might accelerate our plans.

[Kevster]

well, I found out from a good source that the rumor is true. I have a feeling the two Bobs from Office Space will be showing up soon after it gets FCC approval (required since we are a class-1 carrier).

You can picture me saying, "Let me tell you about TPS reports!"

[speedracer120]

Just squirrel away the nasty old printers so that we can have fun at their expense. A nice open field can't be that hard to find between Hermosa and Huntington.

[Kevster]

Sounds like a good time to polish up the resume

I have had it polished for some time. I will be looking to make an exit anytime now.

[Merlin]

BT [BT.L / BT LN] 189p (-3.25p)
Acquisition of Infonet - INITIAL THOUGHTS
• BT has announced the acquisition of Infonet for $965m (£520m). Net of cash on Infonet's balance sheet at March 2004 ($390m), the value of the deal is $575m (£310m).
• The $2.06 offer price will be funded in cash and represents a 23% premium to the average Infonet price over the past three months
• BT expects the deal to be cash flow neutral in year one (before restructuring costs of c. $50m) but dilute EPS by 0.5p in the first year (c. 2.5%) and be enhancing thereafter.
• BT expects cash synergies of $150m (£80m) in the third year following the acquisition whilst Infonet also has a net tax asset of £100m.
• There will be a conference call at 10am UK time, +44 208 974 7950 (pin 946404#).
• Infonet is a long established provider of managed network services to multinational customers. To March 2004, it reported revenues of $620m and expects to be free cash flow positive by the end of the current financial year. It is currently controlled by a core shareholder group that includes Swisscom, Telefonica, KPN, Telstra, TeliaSonera and KDDI whom together also provided some 27% of Infonet's revenue. Their wish to exit Infonet has been known for some time and some investors may be concerned over the quality of the asset acquired. Other concerns are likely to include:
• BT's increasing appetite for acquisitions as a means of accelerating its growth strategy (note current talks with Reuters/Radianz) at a time when investors are more focussed on increasing shareholder returns.
• Execution difficulties especially given Infonet's history and not least BT's previous global investments, such as Concert.
• The initial earnings dilution and perceived impact on BT's distribution policy.
• That said, the concept behind the acquisition is clear. BT's Global Services business has performed strongly in recent years and is seen as a leader in the provision of ICT solutions to multinational companies. However, it is still somewhat domestically weighted and Infonet will increase BT's international presence especially in the US market. In addition, the acquisition is relatively small and is focused on international capabilities and presence rather than a cash draining network investment. Importantly, it will also be wholly owned rather than a complex joint venture.

[Maarchk]

I have worked for Infonet for over 5 years. I am traveling in two weeks, the tickets are paid for and the people are all lined up to get the training from me so that is not an issue. Pending FCC approval, I could be working for BT in the future. That is what I'm not so sure about.

On a side note, I am working on a new high-speed wireless networking venture part-time that could really pan out. After today it looks like we might accelerate our plans.

Wow, time to get ready to roll... Good luck with your new venture. I hope things work out. Must be nice to get the money your boss does. You need to invent a good little idea, and sell it to yahoo so you can retire....

Good luck with everything and keep us posted.

[Kevster]

We had our "all-hands" meeting today. The "executive team" said the deal will likely take 6 months to complete since we have to get FCC, SEC, Pentagon & EU approvals. Apparently these will not be a problem it is just that it takes time to get them.

They also stated many times that there will be no lay-offs and that BT really wants to keep Infonet's people as, "we are what make Infonet great". They said the same thing to the AUCS engineers and staff when we aquired them and let 95% of them go in the first 2 years. We also saw this happen when one of our biggest competitors, Equant, was aquired by France Telecom. Equant had a development engineering group and operations located a few blocks away from us and within 16 months they were all let go and all those jobs were relocated to Europe.

We have the big question-and-answer session tomorrow. I think I'll ask if our "corporate culture" is going to change and we'll have to start calling the elevator the 'lift' and the restrooms the 'loo'. I could probably handle that, but having to spell the word color as colour and specialize as specialise would be irritating to no end.

[Jeffbx]

They also stated many times that there will be no lay-offs and that BT really wants to keep Infonet's people as, "we are what make Infonet great".

Hahahahaha! How many times have I heard THAT story! The only thing that makes me laugh harder is when I hear someone say, "Well, at least the stock can't fall any lower..."

Yeah, better start firing those resumes off. Hopefully your company won't go the way of Equant... we use them for our global MPLS & support outside of Europe absolutely reeks.

However, of all the folks in Europe to work for, the Brits would be near the top of my list. They're fun & easygoing compared to some of the, uh, more rigid countries (Germany, I'm looking in your direction!).

[Merlin]

Ask if you will start getting European style 4 week vacations.

[ufcrusher]

Damn, that truly does suck. Although it is possible that they wont touch anything, chances are that they will. Where my wife works when they were "acquired" they were given a 2 year (maybe 1) window whereby the other company promised to be hands off. That period is just about over and we are in great dismay at all the things that are changing.

For example:

All of our health care benefits just became a lot more expensive and less comprehensive at that. With my medical conditions that really sucks.

She used to work a 2 week pay cycle with every other friday off....they switched it to a 1 week cycle with half days every friday. Ok, that sounds not TOO bad until you realize that they used to just have to put all their hours in during that 2 week cycle. Thus, if something came up that prevented her from working she could make it up. She could also plan her time to take days off. (Work an extra 2 hours each day to make up some time)

All that aside, they did wait the period they allotted before implementing any changes. On a side note, this was a merger and not a true acquisition although frankly it was an acquisition since the one company ceased to exist.

Back to your current issue, as everyone said start sending out your resume...all of your colleagues will be doing the same so the sooner you do it the better chance you will be ahead of the pack.

[Markel]

Get ready to change your pronunciation of aluminum to "al-u-min-i-um".

[Kevster]

Get ready to change your pronunciation of aluminum to "al-u-min-i-um".

And we'll have to call our lab the lah-BOR-a-tree.

We had another meeting today with our CEO and he was very thorough on what it means to us. Pending the 6-month approval process, it looks like we are going to be a wholy-owned (but seperate) part of the BT group. BT in England is everything AT&T used to be before the big anti-trust breakup. They have huge process flows and while we are comparatively tiny, we are much more efficient and cometitive than they are in the international arena, especially in the US, Latin & South America, and Asia. We have a lot of overlap in Europe and that will take about a year or so after the merger to sort out. We have a very large optical network in the US, and they are keen to take advantage of that. By aquiring us, they probably shaved off about 2 years in their network development.

After talking with my fellow engineers about our possible futures, we all agreed that we'll have jobs for at least the next 2 years or so. It looks like I might start pursuing that CCIE that my co-worker just completed. That or I might go into something else since I have a hell of a lot of experience with metropolitan and long-haul optical networks now. Oh well, like I said before, I'm looking and if I see a good exit I'll be gone.

[Kevster]

Well here's an update. We were officially aquired by British Telecom today. This is the last official day of the company known as Infonet, where I've been working for the last 5 1/2 years. That may be a bit long for some people, but one of the people in my engineering group just passed 25 years last week. My company is going to officially be called BT-Infonet and our new website is www.bt.infonet.com .

The one good thing is that I will probably have a job (and the ability to move around if I want) for at least the next 5 years, maybe more.