Marconi Sells 5 Plants for $390M

LONDON -- 2001 Marconi (LSE and NASDAQ: MONI) and Jabil Circuit, Inc.(NYSE: JBL) have today announced that they have entered into an agreement whichincludes the divestiture of certain Marconi Communicationsmanufacturing operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and Germany to JabilCircuit. Total consideration to be paid, subject to pre-closingadjustments, will be approximately $390 million. Jabil Circuit will purchasefive operations of Marconi Communications and enter a three year product supplyagreement to manufacture existing and new products for Marconi. It iscurrently estimated that the agreement will result in revenue exceeding $4 billionover the three years of the agreement.Jabil Circuit, which has enjoyed a successfulmanufacturing relationship with Marconi for several years, will provide Marconi withelectronics manufacturing services, including printed circuit board assembly andrepair services. Under the proposed terms of the deal, up to 2900 employees inBedford, Texas; Liverpool and Coventry, UK; Marcianise, Italy and Offenburg,Germany will progressively transfer to Jabil Circuit. No involuntary job losses areexpected and existing employment rights will be protected. The transaction isintended to be implemented by mid 2001.

"We talked to a number of potential outsourcing partners.We chose Jabil Circuit because it has recognised expertise in the communicationsequipment industry, global presence, and the financial strength to supportMarconi's rapid growth. Furthermore, we believe Jabil will offer considerablepotential for our transferring employees to benefit from becoming part of a businessfocused specifically on growing its manufacturing operations," said Mike Parton,CEO of Marconi Communications. "Jabil's technology leadership as one ofthe world's largest electronic manufacturing services companies will giveMarconi supply chain scalability, shorter lead times, quality and costadvantages. It will allow Marconi to focus on where we can add the greatest value forcustomers - providing outstanding solutions, developing new products andfulfilling orders as quickly as possible."

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