Bangkok--November 17--Lucent Technologies
More than 1,000 employees of Lucent Technologies in Thailand will receive grants currently valued at some Baht 150 million as part of the company๔s "Global Founders Grant" (GFG), an innovative, worldwide program that offers share options or substitutes to all "founding" Lucent employees. The program is intended to reward and recognize employees for their role in Lucent's success since its spin-off from AT&T last year.
Mr Curtis Crawford, group president for Microelectronics, presented the grants to employees of Lucent Technologies Microelectronics (Thai) Ltd at a ceremony today to thank employees for making Thailand one of Lucent Technologies' largest microelectronics production bases and the first to be awarded ISO 14001 environmental certification.
"Thailand has played a significant role in Lucent Technologies worldwide success both as a major microelectronics production base, from which Lucent exports high -end integrated circuits to customers around the world, and as a market for other Lucent telecommunications systems and products," said Crawford. "Through the Global Founders Grant program, the efforts of Lucent's employees in Thailand will be rewarded with a stake in, and directly benefit from, Lucent's continued success."
Under the GFG program, all eligible Lucent employees who joined the company prior to October 1, 1996, will receive 100 share options or an equivalent substitute based on the value of Lucent shares, which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The share options or substitute can be exercised anytime after October 1, 1999, for a period of seven years. Because of local regulatory considerations, Lucent employees in Thailand will receive a substitute award of a cash payment in lieu of shares equivalent to the difference between the exercise price and the market price of Lucent shares on the day they exercise their award.
"Based on the exercise price of US$ 44-47, depending on when the employees joined the company, and Lucent's current share price of around US$80, the total value of the grants given to the 1,000 eligible Lucent employees in Thailand is approximately Baht 150 million," explains Mr Sumrian Suthivong, president of Lucent Technologies Microelectronics (Thai) Ltd. "If Lucent continues to perform well and that is reflected in the share price, the value of the grants will continue to grow."
Sumrian expressed confidence about the continued success of Lucent's microelectronics plant in Thailand. "At a time when many companies here are experiencing difficulties as a result of the current economic slowdown, Lucent Technologies is reaffirming its commitment to Thailand and to its Thai employees," he said. "Lucent is continuing to increase production and expand capacity at its microelectronics plant in Thailand and will increase staffing at the plant in 1998, raising the total number of staff to at least 1,350."
"Production output in 1997 is expected to increase more than 15-20 percent over the previous year on the strength of high demand from Lucent's customers, which comprise leading computer and telecommunications manufacturers around the world," Sumrian added. The Thailand plant, which is one of Lucent's largest, exports 100 percent of its production and was the first Lucent microelectronics plant to receive ISO 14001 certification from Lloyds Register Quality Assurance of London, earlier in the year.
Lucent's Microelectronics Group reported record fourth quarter 1997 worldwide results with revenues up 23.9 percent over the year-ago quarter to US$782 million (approximately Baht 29.5 billion) led by increased sales of customized chips for computing and communications, including components for wireless telecommunications, local area networks, data networking, and high-end computer workstations. International sales accounted for approximately 49 percent of the Group's revenues, led by continued strength in the European and Asia/Pacific regions.
Lucent Technologies๔ Microelectronics group designs and manufactures integrated circuits, optoelectronic components and power systems for the computer and telecommunications industries. More information about the Microelectronic group can be found at its web site at http://www.lucent.com/micro.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm for the company. For more information about Lucent Technologies visit our web site at http://www.lucent.com.
For further information, contact Krisana Tantivanich Lucent Technologies Microelectronics (Thai) Ltd. Tel: 909 0250, Fax: 909 0243 E-mail: [email protected]
Pongprach Surojnametakul Presko Shandwick (Thailand) Ltd Tel: 273 8800, Fax: 273 8881 E-mail: [email protected].