Newbridge To Invite Bids For Manufacturing Ops Next Wk
TORONTO -- Newbridge Networks Corp. (NN) will officially start inviting bids next week for contract electronic manufacturers to take over the company's volume manufacturing operations, a Newbridge spokeswoman said.
The Kanata, Ont., network equipment vendor first announced plans to outsource its volume manufacturing operations in November as part of a strategy to reduce costs and raise profits.
Newbridge, who is following in the footsteps of many of its rivals, might get around C$100 million from the bidding process, but the more-important benefit will be the expected costs savings from outsouring the manufacturing, analysts said.
Analysts suggested Montreal's Primetech Electronics Inc. (T.PME), which already provides manfacturing services to Newbridge, Toronto's Celestica Inc. (CLS) and Solectron Corp. (SLR), of Milpitas, Calif., among others are likely bidders.
The Newbrige spokeswoman also denied a Reuters report that the company had sold its 49.9% stake in Isreal's Seabridge for an undisclosed amount to Siemens AG (G.SIE), the big German telecommunications equipment manufacturer and a Newbridge distribution partner.
"The deal isn't done yet," the spokeswoman said, declining further comment.
Seabridge makes equipment for high-speed asynchronous transfer mode networks. |
