FIVE GROUPS APPLY TO BUY FRENCH TELEPHONE GROUP

  Five consortia have applied to buy the
  French state-owned telephone equipment manufacturer &lt;Cie
  Generale de Constructions Telephoniques (CGCT)>, which will
  give the owners control of 16 pct of the French telephone
  switching market, sources close to Finance Minister Edouard
  Balladur said.
      The French government has given itself until the end of
  April to decide which applicant will be accepted, they added.
      While several foreign groups have said they want to gain a
  foothold in the French market, their potential stake in CGCT is
  limited to 20 pct under privatisation laws passed last year,
  with 80 pct to be left in French hands.
      The Finance Ministry sources gave no details of the groups
  interested in CGCT, but several have publicly announced their
  candidacies.
      U.S. Telecommunications giant American Telephone and
  Telegraph Co &lt;T.N> which has been at the centre of the two-year
  battle for CGCT, has teamed up with the Dutch-based &lt;Philips
  Telecommunications Industrie B.V.>, a subsidiary of NV Philips
  Gloeilampenfabriek &lt;PGLO.AS> and &lt;Societe Anonyme de
  Telecommunications> (SAT) to present a joint bid, in
  association with holding company Cie du Midi SA &lt;MCDP.P> and
  five French investment funds.
      A second bid has come from the West German electronics
  group Siemens AG &lt;SIEG.F>, which hopes to take a 20 pct stake
  in CGCT, with the French telecommunications &lt;Jeumont-Schneider>
  taking the remaining 80 pct.
      Sweden's &lt;AB LM Ericsson> has also submitted a bid for the
  maximum 20 pct permitted, in association with French defence
  electronics group &lt;Matra>, which would hold between 40 and 49
  pct, and construction group &lt;Bouygues>.
      Matra has already acquired CGCT's private telephone
  business.
  REUTER...
  

