By LAURENCE FROST

PARIS (AP) -- Alcatel's purchase of U.S. rival Lucent Technologies Inc. looks set to clear its highest remaining hurdle Thursday, when shareholders on both sides of the Atlantic vote on whether to go ahead with the $11 billion deal to create a new global force in telecoms equipment.

Both companies are likely to win their shareholders' blessing, analysts predict, with Alcatel investors swallowing their misgivings about the price of the all-stock deal - because the alternatives are worse.

"For Alcatel shareholders, there's more to lose than to gain by refusing the merger," said Odon de Laporte of CA Cheuvreux.

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