Lucent says Global Crossing owes more

Lucent Technologies this week filed a motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court in the southern district of New York State alleging that Global Crossing owes it $123 million, not the $31 million indicated in the bankrupt long-haul carrier’s Chapter 11 filing.

In a letter to Joseph Perrone, Global Crossing’s executive vice president, dated January 25, 2002, Frank D’Amelio, Lucent’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the vendor is “quite disappointed” to learn that Global Crossing would not be making a $79 million payment due yesterday for “past due accounts receivable.”

According to the motion, Global Crossing owes Lucent about $83 million in current accounts receivable and an additional $40 million in products and services that have yet to be billed. In his letter, D’Amelio indicates Global Crossing agreed to pay cash or cash equivalents in advance for any products or service delivered by Lucent after Jan. 25.

A spokeswoman for Lucent said there would be “no material impact on our business” if the vendor does not recover the monies allegedly owed it by Global Crossing. She added that Lucent regularly reviews its accounts receivables and establishes reserves in certain instances as a hedge.

“We are adequately reserved on this account,” she said.

Lucent’s motion asks the bankruptcy court to enter an order that would require Global Crossing to assume or reject the contracts currently in place that call for Lucent to continue building Global Crossing’s fiber-optic network. Without these assumptions, Lucent said it would face “increasing uncertainty and unacceptable financial risk.”

Lucent’s motion also states that Global Crossing has a $750 million equity investment from Hutchison Whampoa and ST Telemedia to fund its reorganization plan and an additional $1 billion in cash on hand to fund operations through the restructuring. Thus, Global Crossing “has the financial ability” to retire the alleged $83 million in accounts receivable and to make advance payments on the $40 million in future goods and services for which the carrier currently has a contractual commitment, according to Lucent.

A spokeswoman for Global Crossing said the company plans to issue a statement answering Lucent’s allegation later today.