The Sunday Times newspaper reported that Marconi had begun discussions with Huawei that could lead to a takeover, valuing it at over 600 million pounds (864 million euros, 1.07 billion dollars).

The newspaper said a formal proposal had yet to be presented to the Marconi board and that finalising a takeover could take many months.

A Marconi spokesman made no comment on the report.

The Sunday Telegraph however claimed Marconi may put out a statement to the London Stock Exchange, confirming it has entered talks, as early as Monday morning.

If a deal comes to fruition it would be one of the most significant acquisition to date of a foreign company by a Chinese group, the paper added.

A takeover would likely stoke the debate about the state of the British manufacturing sector, as Marconi remains one of the last major British hi-tech companies operating in the telecommunications industry.

It could also cause political controversy over fears that thousands of jobs could be lost to China, the Sunday Times said.

Marconi, only just returning to an even keel after a radical financial restructuring in 2002, axed 800 jobs in May after it was frozen out of a lucrative contract to supply BT with optical and network access hardware.

Huawei Technologies, which already has a business partnership with Marconi, was chosen as one of BT's eight preferred suppliers for the 10-billion-pound five-year project, entitled '21st Century Network'.

Marconi currently employs 10,000 staff worldwide, including a workforce of around 4,100 in Britain.

BT was by far Marconi's largest customer, and the equipment supplier had invested heavily in conducting trials of its products for BT.

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