Packet Parent Buys Software Company

Alcatel S.A. of Paris, the parent company of Packet Engines in Spokane, said Tuesday it has bought Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, a San Francisco company that makes computer-telephone software.

The $1.5 billion purchase of Genesys is the sixth American business Alcatel has bought in the past year - including Packet for $325 million - as it increases its share of the growing voice and data networking markets.

“Every acquisition we’ve made relates to Internet protocol capabilities, which is driving the convergence of voice and data networks,” said Bob O’Brien, an Alcatel spokesman in Plano, Texas.

Alcatel’s purchase of Genesys is expected to close in January. Genesys stockholders will be given 1.67 Alcatel American depository shares, worth about $28, in exchange for one Genesys share.

O’Brien said the acquisition will dilute Alcatel’s earnings by about 1.5 percent this fiscal year, but is expected to add to earnings within two years.

O’Brien said Genesys won’t be rolled into the Alcatel Internetworking Division, the new operating group that includes Packet.