Morgan Stanley is likely to win business acting on a multi-billion deal involving Lucent Technology's fibre optics division.

The French telecoms equipment manufacturer has received an initial offer for the Lucent division from Alcatel, the French telecoms company. Although Serge Tchuruk, chairman of Lucent, told a news conference that a number of other players in the market were also looking at the business, Morgan Stanley has close relations to the parties currently involved.