Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words pay+settle. 2 news.

ALCATEL-LUCENT will pay US$2.5 million to settle charges that it violated US anti-bribery laws by paying for hundreds of trips taken by Chinese officials to secure millions of dollars in contracts. The trips were provided between 2000 and 2003 by Lucent Technologies, prior to its 2006 acquisition by Alcatel SA, according to a US Justice Department statement. Lucent footed the bill for approximately 315 trips for Chinese officials, including sightseeing trips to Las Vegas, Disneyland and the Grand Canyon, the department said. The company paid a US$1-million fine to the Justice Department and US$1.5 million in civil penalties to settle a separate complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The recipients were officials with Chinese state-owned telecommunications companies considered important to securing new business. "Alcatel-Lucent China hasn't further comment on the issue, and we will sustain a healthy and long-term relationship with Chinese government officials

FRENCH cookware producer Groupe SEB has completed a partial tender offer for Zhejiang Supor Cookware Co, China's biggest producer of kitchen appliances. The two companies will settle the deal this week, Supor said. Under the deal, SEB will pay 2.3 billion yuan for a maximum of 49.1 million shares at 47 yuan a share from the public to boost its stake in Supor from 30 percent to 52.74 percent. Seb's investment in Supor, worth a total of 327 million euros, will give it access to a sales network across China and localize its production to increase price competitiveness. SEB, which makes Tefal cookware, announced plans to buy 61 percent of Supor last year but the acquisition drew opposition from China's cookware industry amid worries of a monopoly being created. In April, the Ministry of Commerce gave a green light to SEB's plan after a public hearing for more open competition in China's non-strategic industry. Supor's US$15-million factory in Vietnam, designed to produce 7.9