	att philips bid for cgct outlined american telephone and telegraph co and philips telecommunications bv apt would hold pct through direct and indirect holdings in france s cie generale de constructions telephoniques if a joint bid with french partners for the soon to be privatised firm succeeds a director at one of the partner firms said marc mathieu of societe anonyme de telecommunications sat told journalists the bid foresaw a direct stake of pct for apt the joint firm set up by the u s s att t n and the nv philips gloeilampenfabrieken pglo as the other pct would be owned by a holding company made up of sat apt cie du midi mcdp pa and five mutual funds under french law foreign investors are restricted to a pct direct stake in privatised companies but can boost their stake to pct through indirect holdings the make up of the holding company however is subject to close discussions within the government due to legal queries over the nationality of the mutual funds a finance ministry official said although bought by french citizens they are managed by foreign banks morgan guaranty trust co of new york and banque de neuflize schlumberger mallet sa controlled by algemene bank nederland nv abnn as an sat spokesman said cgct which controls pct of the french public telephone switching market is to be sold by the government for mln francs by private tender five groups are bidding for the company and the government has said it will choose cgct s new owner by the end of april apt vice president wim huisman told a news conference a capital increase was envisaged if sat apt wins cgct but declined to give details or say how an increase would affect foreign stakes in cgct in cgct posted losses of mln francs on sales of three billion after losses of mln francs a joint sat apt statement added that buyers were committed to investing mln francs in cgct research and production plants the apt sat offer includes a provision for cgct to produce apt ess prx switching technology and adapt it to french standards the tender was launched after a draft agreement for att to take over cgct was abandoned following the introduction of the french government privatisation laws which reopened bidding among a wider range of applicants other candidacies to take over cgct include west germany s siemens ag sieg f allied with schneider sa schn pa subsidiary jeumont schneider sweden s telefon ab lm ericsson eric st allied with matra matr pa and bouygues sa bouy pa italy s italtel and canada s northern telecom ltd ntl to reuter 
