Alcatel to meet buyers for enterprise biz-sources

FRANKFURT/NEW YORK, April 26 (Reuters) - Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA) is holding meetings in San Francisco this week with prospective suitors to scout out buyout interest in its $1 billion plus enterprise business, several people familiar with the matter said.

A slew of private equity firms are expected to be among the potential buyers taking meetings with the telecom equipment maker, the sources said.

The few strategic parties that could show an interest include Cisco (CSCO.O), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) and Avaya [AVXX.UL], these sources said.

Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN), which is 51 percent owned by Los Angeles-based private equity firm Gores Group, is considered to be the lead horse in the process, two of the sources said. German engineering group Siemens (SIEGn.DE) owns the rest and would likely have a say in any decision to buy.

A spokesman for Gores Group declined to comment. Alcatel-Lucent and SEN also declined comment. (Reporting by Nicola Leske and Nadia Damouni)