HOUSTON, June 27, 2002 - (PRIMEZONE) -- The Emerson Firm, a securities class action law firm with offices in Houston, Texas and Little Rock, Arkansas, announced today that a class action has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of (a) all purchasers of the common stock of Alcatel S.A. ("Alcatel" or the "Company") relating to Alcatel's Class O common shares (Nasdaq:ALAO) in or traceable to the initial public offering (the "Offering" or "IPO") of the ADSs conducted by Alcatel on or about October 20, 2000, and (b) all persons other than defendants who purchased Alcatel's Class A common shares (NYSE:ALA) and Class O common shares in the form of ADSs between October 20, 2000 and May 29, 2001, inclusive (the "Class Period"). A copy of the complaint filed in this action is available from the Court, or can be obtained from the Firm.
The complaint charges Alacatel S.A. and certain of its officers and directors with issuing a false and misleading prospectus on October 20, 2000, and by making material misrepresentations to the market between October 20, 2000 and May 29, 2001. Specifically, the complaint alleges that on October 20, 2000, Alcatel issued a prospectus for the sale of Class O stock in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADSs) that purportedly would track the performance of Alcatel's Optronics Division. The Prospectus was materially false and misleading, as alleged in the complaint, because it failed to disclose (a) that demand for the Company's optical components was weakening as Alcatel and the Optronics Division's other customers were experiencing severe and persistent business slowdowns; (b) that the purportedly increasing demand for the Optronics Division's optical components was the result of a massive inventory build at the Optical Division's primary customer, Alcatel, and at the Company's external customers; ( c) that the Company was amassing hundreds of millions of dollars of obsolete inventory which would have to be written-off; and that (d) in light of the decreasing demand for optical components, the Company was not in a position to successfully promote sales of all product lines to outside customers.
Subsequently, on May 29, 2001, Alcatel issued an unexpected and severe profit warning and separately announced that it expected to report a second-quarter loss of approximately $2.6 billion. Following this announcement, the price of Alcatel Class O common shares, in the form of ADSs, declined by 11% from a closing price of $21.26 on May 29, 2001 to a closing price of $18.92 on May 30, 2001. Similarly, Alcatel Class A common shares, in the form of ADSs declined by 8.8% from $27.14 to 24.74.
If you are a member of the class described above and you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 16, 2002. If you are a member of this class, you can join this class action by contacting the Firm. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through The Emerson Firm or other counsel of their choice.
The Emerson Firm has substantial experience representing investors in securities fraud class action lawsuits such as this. The firm has offices in Texas and Arkansas, but represents investors throughout the nation. If you have any questions about how you may be able to recover for your losses, or if you would like to consider serving as one of the lead plaintiffs in this lawsuit, you are encouraged to call or e-mail the Firm.
The Emerson Firm Investor Relations Department: Tanya R. Autry P.O. Box 25336 Little Rock, AR 72221-5336 Toll Free: 1-800-663-9817 E-mail: tanya.autry@worldnet.att.net
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.