Marconi UK assets snapped up by 3i

NEWS Troubled telecoms equipment manufacturer Marconi has sold its UK assets to European venture capitalist group 3i to help balance its debts. The management buy-out deal for £50m in cash and £7m in a vendor loan bond will enable Marconi to reduce its debts, which stood at £2.9bn at the end of April this year. 3i intends to re-brand Marconi's Essex-based Applied Technologies division as E2V Technologies. Marconi was once renowned for its involvement in the development of technologies for the defence sector but decided to move to optical network equipment manufacture in 2000. The debt-ridden business spent around $8bn transforming itself into a networking equipment company just as that sector took a turn for the worst.