MELBOURNE, May 22: Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson has signalled interest in acquisitions in Silicon Valley to stay ahead of the mobile communications revolution. Ericsson chief executive Sven-Christer Nilsson said he was looking at select takeovers as well as alliances to expand on its own efforts to merge mobile telephony and computing. "We are looking for small and medium sized companies that we can acquire in full or in part," Nilsson told reporters during a visit to Australia."We're looking for good acquisitions wherever they are and it happens to be today that the drive for the development in this area is located in the United States in Silicon Valley."
Asked to comment on speculation Ericsson was thinking of shifting to London, he said many of its owners, customers and staff were spread far and wide.
"Ericsson has 50 per cent of its owners outside of Sweden, we have 50 per cent of employees outside Sweden and we have 96 per cent of our sales outside of Sweden. So it should be seen inthat light -- to actually come closer to our customers and our owners."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
