Ciena Interested in MEN?

Technically speaking, Nortel is in chapter 11 right now.

However, they are actually behaving like a company which is already in chapter 7....... Liquidate everything possible, divvy up the proceeds, and say goodnight.

If the media rumours are true, and they usually are, one would think you exactly correct with that statement.
You would almost think all the nortel line of business leaders are putting up one huge charade until the details of the restructuring or sell off are made public. They probably had to sign non disclosure stuff, and if they give any hint that there is any beef to any media rumours they are at risk of getting whitewashed in the wallet.

I completely agree. Whatever happens, I am sure that we, the remaining Nortel employees, will be the last to know.

300 million - have they lost their minds. its minimum worth 500 million. and why the hell will Ciena buy MEN to only duplicate its optical business.

The nortel optical business puts the ciena solution to shame.
I agree however, why would they buy this business.
Ciena are in a world of hurt themselves.
Would buying MEN save their bacon?

It will mean Ciena has to kill off one line / people. simple as that i.e. layoff most of the MEN people here.

300 mill is too low. analyst speculation which makes no sense at all.
For that price there would be a lot of bidders. Last rumour was MEN would stay in Nortel while the rest got sold off.

If this were to happen I would imagine Ciena would take no more than a few hundred employees? They would want the ones who can show them how 40G/100G works and how it is made to be profitable. Apparently Ciena have a large facility not far from the main MEN campus in ottawa? They would take the least disruptive approach which may mean large scale transfer of more employees than that short term, but they would whittle away at them over a period of six months to a year.
Really hard to say how they would react if they bought MEN?
Key takeaway here is that all this stuff is rumour.
Strictly rumour.
Whether it is enterprise, wireless or MEN.
All rumour about what will happen, who will buy, what will stay, liquidation, restructuring.
Who knows Man, Who knows, besides the top level execs that is.
What are the odds the creditors will reject whatever plan the brass are going to give them. I would say slim and none based
on how these things work and recent history.
So once you see the restructuring plan it will be much easier to connect all the dots, whenever that will be.

hope the 100 are not Morin, his VPs, Directors and other deadwood. they would kill Ciena with the same old political crap they pulled off until now.

they cannot take everyone. they would be responsible for severances when they layoff later.

So there you have it boys and Girls.
CN sold.
Enterprise sold.
MEN sold.
Nortel Joint Ventures move back to Europe and Asia.
All the campuses are closed, rented.
The only thing that survives is perhaps Nortel China.
John Manley, Dalton McGuinty and Stephen harper come out after the damage
is done and extoll in the virtues of nortel lamenting the demise of a one time great Telecom company.
No Bailout or support when they really needed it.
Dunn doesn't get prosecuted.
All the employees who did not get transferred to a buyer join the rank and file at your local lawyers office, welfare line, jailhouse or bar.
Tis the Season.

Scalpcutter what about Nortel federal? They did not file bankruptcy. They still have a lot of active contracts. What happens to them?

What is Nortel Federal?

It's officially known as Nortel Government Solutions. They're a wholly owned sub of Nortel Networks Corporation and responsible for US Government (civilian and military) business. A lot of their business is classified.

You mean bill owens PEC solutions?
It is too laugh.

Keeping tabs on the secret for-profit Cisco oil and electricity cabals....

Nortel China? No kdding,man, look at our Star ES here,each nPower only contributed to 1-2M a year,some gold parter was 0 in FY08.The pathetic revenue needs to raise so many ppl still sitting here.BTW,we are busy in launching some LSS program to reduce NNA case to SAVE COE COST!
No one wants to listen, COE is Disaster! Reducing cost, No revenue in, burning Cash everyday.....I fully believe Chater 7 is just around the corner.

Ciena with "$922.6 million in cash and marketable securities at the end of January, down 22 percent from a year earlier"

30% of their lifeblood in face of 22% decline for MENs ?

$300M is a lot money and I suspect this is U.S. dollars

Again. what is any already cost shaved unit losing money with slim margins on the decline worth? How much profit on any extra sale would Ciena require to justify this?

Any one else "weighing" a price?
Any firm offers being pondered? heh. pondered /Nortellese
Anyone for anything?

Going once... going twice... do a hear two dollars, two dollars. Anyone? Anyone? ...ahem.... Do I hear one dollar for this fine buying opportunity... real fine...one dollar... just one dollar ... anyone? anyone?

If my grandmother had that much money, she might bit for MEN. That certainly doesn't mean you let her buy the thing. MEN is the third in the world in what it does, so no matter what the "analysts" say, it isn't going in a fire sale because someone gets interested in buying it. I don't care if it's "U.S, dollars" . The determination for a MEN sale is can whomever buy it, grow it. Can Ciena do that? Maybe.

How can your "grandmother" grow "the thing" even if she did have the money with the competition out there. =)

They haven't sold it so far...let alone later with all the post bankruptcy effects and Nortel product isn't exactly leading

Others grow and lead... than follow and lose

What would they be buying with their credibility
What are their suppliers relationships like, do we know
How badly is it stigmatized already

Nortel bought revenues to lose money, who will be as stupid

Maybe Stardard American can try to grow it with toiletconferencing avatars the way takeover rumors are flying these days and yet not one red cent in a bid announced.

I dunno....a lot of huff and puff coming from who knows where as the bottom line remains nothing has been sold and ever so precious time time they delay is flying too fast =)

has anyone seen this?
http://sprintconnection.kansascity.com/?q=node/993
what did I miss? Since when Sprint works with Ericsson....?

"Reuters is reporting that Ericsson has signed a service contract with Sprint worth more than $2 billion.

The order from Sprint would mean the third major contract for Ericsson in the important U.S. market.

Losers in the negotiations were likely to Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens and Motorola

The total of orders means that Ericsson is to get the position on the U.S. market that Nortel had previously. And this without buying Nortel. "

Thanks Mike Z. Good job. Stellar.

It's not worth selling if they can't get at least $1 billion for it and it seems a stretch to do it given the economy . It's worth at least $1 billion given their revenue, solid Tier 1 customer base, and market lead in DWDM, 40G and coming 100G. The customer base alone is worth half a billion. Better to hang onto it then sell it for nothing.

It doesn't really matter any more. The Creditors will not get any more money by waiting longer.

With all the news reports its clear Nortel is in a break up and sell mode. The creditors will get whatever the market will bare for the individual parts of the company. Probably more the then company as a whole. It is also clear that any sale of part of the company will not generate enough cash to help the remainder be profitable.

I do not think Nortel will emerge for Bankruptcy protection as a company despite what Mike Z says. He has no other choice but to say what he is saying other wise the company will self destruct even faster.

The company will be sold off in pieces and the remainder shut down.

I agree fully.
They already exhausted time and assets and paper.
Chapter 7 is next, this is the consensus too.

No. That would only be the case in Chapter 7. The idea in Chapter 11 is to form some sort of viable revenue generating company that would benefit the creditors more than a total sell off. Nortel still has potentially very profitable areas of the business that will grow again once the recession ends. I see some business units being sold, but not all of them. There is no doubt, Nortel will be a shadow of its former self, but it will come out in some form.

Teleguy, I really can't relate to the "no doubt" item in your post...
I'd like to think that is the case but... I just don't see it....

Profitable areas: which ones are they? If you identify them, can you confirm that these areas have not been cost cut for over a decade, and hence produce no off spring that will ensure viability?

What about then P&L sheet? Can you produce any P&L that would at least point to a profitable area?

Once again, I'm simply asking questions based on what I have seen within Nortel...

hmmm...first to comment....THINK...THINK...THINK....

Don't think, throw your shoe at someone!