French equipment manufacturer ALCATEL and the Dutch holding DRAKA are going to regroup their world fibre-optics and communication activities into a joint company whose majority stake will be held by DRAKA, 50.1%. The new venture will be in second place in the world rankings behind the US company CORNING. It will have a staff of 3900 and is expected to obtain a turnover of EUR 670 million in 2004 of which 390 million will be generated by DRAKA.