Tadiran Communications and Systems (Tadiran C&S) has signed an agreement for strategic cooperation with Alcatel of France. As part of the agreement, the two companies will submit joint bids for tender of European defense communications contracts. This, according to Tadiran Communications general manager Hezi Hermoni.
Cooperation with Alcatel’s military division, Alcatel-Defense, will be carried out by Alcatel’s Danish branch. As part of the agreement, Tadiran will supply radio capabilities while Alcatel will supply transmission systems.
At present, there are three major, multi-million dollar defense contracts being tendered in the European military market, and the joint venture has bid on each. It should be noted that Tadiran Communications is the primary supplier to Germany and Austria.
Hermoni revealed today the Tadiran concern has approved a $100 million budget to enable Tadiran Communications acquisition of a US defense communications company, in order to widen its marketing base in the US and more successfully bid on US military tenders. He estimated the growth trend in US sales following the acquisition would be $50 million per year. Hermoni added that Tadiran Communications was reviewing possible acquisition candidates.
"I support a public share issue of Tadiran Communications and Systems," he said, "assuming that 75% ownership remains in Tadiran’s hands and 25% is put on offer. We will float shares either in Israel or in the US, depending on the market situation." The company’s backlog of orders is $260 million, he said, and sales last year reached $105 million.
Sales logged by US subsidiary Telcom reached $68 million, according to Hermoni, with a $102 million backlog of orders.