Recovering Alcatel-Lucent rejoins France's CAC 40

PARIS (Reuters) - Telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent will rejoin France's blue-chip CAC 40 index, replacing STMicroelectronics, market operator NYSE Euronext said on Thursday. Alcatel, a founding member of the CAC 40 when the benchmark was created a quarter century ago, was kicked out of the index in December 2012 after its market valuation shriveled because of years of losses and tough Chinese competition. Since then, Alcatel-Lucent has gotten a new chief executive who has undertaken major cost cuts to try to get the company back to profitability. As a result, Alcatel's stock has more than tripled since April as investors place hopes in a recovery for the long-struggling company. The changes in the CAC 40 will be effective on Monday, December 23, Euronext said. (Reporting by Blaise Robinson)