The Corning, N.Y.-based telecommunications equipment builder will take more than 50 percent of the Siecor and Siecor & Co. joint ventures, as well as the remaining fiber-optic activities of Siemens. It will assume the debt of both ventures.
Corning said it will pay for the purchase, which will add to earnings after 2000, with a share sale that will dilute earnings less than 5 percent next year.
Siemens has been shedding its cable-making and computer operations to focus on more profitable units and boost earnings. The divestments, part of chief executive Heinrich von Pierer's plan to make the German company more competitive, will reduce sales by about 12 billion deutsche marks ($6.2 billion) in fiscal 2000.
"The agreement with Corning foresees close cooperation in joint projects," Siemens said. "As a preferred customer of Corning, Siemens will continue to profit from the company's competitive advantages."
The fiber-optic units have about 3,300 employees and annual sales of 1.5 billion deutsche marks ($780 million). They operate factories around the world.
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