The sale of Nortel’s metro ethernet and optical business to Ciena may not be a fait accompli.
According a Nokia Siemens Networks spokesman Barry French, the company plans to file an objection in bankruptcy court, and it is prepared to increase its bid to $810-million. The issue hinges on NSN’s contention that the $239-million in convertible notes that are part of Ciena’s $769-million winning bid “carry significant risk and should not be valued the same as cash”.
NSN was among the two bidders for MEN during a three-day auction last month. Ciena, which would double in size if the MEN deal is consummated, made an original “stalking horse” bid of $510-million.
More: Some comments from Barry French, who was good enough to pass them along given its midnight in Helsinki.
· We can confirm the our joint venture with OEP has offered $810 million in cash for the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel, a $40 million increase to our final bid in the auction.
· In addition, we have filed an objection in the bankruptcy court related to the sale of the Nortel optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets.
· We believe that our final offer of $770 million was better, and this improved bid is substantially better, than that of the initial auction winner, particularly given the all-cash nature of our offer.
· Along with our expert advisors, we continue to believe that the convertible notes offered by the stalking horse bidder carry significant risk and should not be valued the same as cash.
· We appreciate the efforts of the representatives of the creditors to deliver the best possible outcome for Nortel’s stakeholders and hope we can work with them further to improve that outcome.
· We will not speculate on the outcome of the court process.
NSN should not go for any of them. They have tried to get Nortel MEN on a bargain and dropped out when it got too rich for them. Acquiring second tier optical companies would require a boat-load of investment. There best bet is to partner with companies like the new Ciena to meet the optical needs of their customers. I think the days of telco companies trying to do everything are over. It's too expensive and the Chinese will just continue to undercut the prices. Nortel couldn't do it any longer; Alcatel-Lucent is having major problems (they seem to be where Nortel was a few years ago); NSN is having problems now.
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Barry French he be da wench of NSN go' fight CIEN yo, fo' da MEN!
wiki wiki wiki
TellNo
>> They'll be competing against fijutsi, the cheating asians and the fleur des lis alcatel amongst others.
Is Fijitsu one of those 'cheating' aisans?
You can only defeat your enemy if you pay enough respect to them. If Nortel is so gloary as you said, they must have a very good reason why they are in bk now. oh, it must be global warming …
scalppeeler
No Fijutsi are not. By lowball tactics I mean Huaweii and ZTE. Nortel has nothing to do with the lines of business that are being sold off now. All the employees and lines of businesses have been cut loose of the titanic. It's over.
Teleguy
NSN should not go for any of them. They have tried to get Nortel MEN on a bargain and dropped out when it got too rich for them. Acquiring second tier optical companies would require a boat-load of investment. There best bet is to partner with companies like the new Ciena to meet the optical needs of their customers. I think the days of telco companies trying to do everything are over. It's too expensive and the Chinese will just continue to undercut the prices. Nortel couldn't do it any longer; Alcatel-Lucent is having major problems (they seem to be where Nortel was a few years ago); NSN is having problems now.
less
Barry French he be da wench of NSN go' fight CIEN yo, fo' da MEN!
A Fight for MEN?
The sale of Nortel’s metro ethernet and optical business to Ciena may not be a fait accompli.
According a Nokia Siemens Networks spokesman Barry French, the company plans to file an objection in bankruptcy court, and it is prepared to increase its bid to $810-million. The issue hinges on NSN’s contention that the $239-million in convertible notes that are part of Ciena’s $769-million winning bid “carry significant risk and should not be valued the same as cash”.
NSN was among the two bidders for MEN during a three-day auction last month. Ciena, which would double in size if the MEN deal is consummated, made an original “stalking horse” bid of $510-million.
More: Some comments from Barry French, who was good enough to pass them along given its midnight in Helsinki.
· We can confirm the our joint venture with OEP has offered $810 million in cash for the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel, a $40 million increase to our final bid in the auction.
· In addition, we have filed an objection in the bankruptcy court related to the sale of the Nortel optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets.
· We believe that our final offer of $770 million was better, and this improved bid is substantially better, than that of the initial auction winner, particularly given the all-cash nature of our offer.
· Along with our expert advisors, we continue to believe that the convertible notes offered by the stalking horse bidder carry significant risk and should not be valued the same as cash.
· We appreciate the efforts of the representatives of the creditors to deliver the best possible outcome for Nortel’s stakeholders and hope we can work with them further to improve that outcome.
· We will not speculate on the outcome of the court process.