Following Daimler-Benz AG’s agreement to take a 34% stake in Sogeti SA, parent company Cap Gemini Sogeti SA is reported to be in negotiation with France Telecom, with a view to offering it a shareholding sufficient to prevent Daimler-Benz gaining a controlling share. Cap Gemini and France Telecom have much to offer one another, since Cap Gemini is a market leader in software necessary for the operation of the electronic telephone directory. To many industry watchers, the intitiative – as yet undisclosed – with France Telecom demonstrates Cap Gemini’s keeness to counterbalance its alliance with Daimler-Benz, said not to have gone down too well with the French industry ministry, which was presented with the agreement as a fait accompli.
