Nokia Siemens Metworks Reportedly Bidding for a Nortel Chunk ('Unanemed Sources Say')
Matador,
<< Telecoms consolidation is on going as Nortel is being carved up. Motorola soon will go and Nokia-Siemens may not survive much longer. No longer than 5 years max. >>
In my opinion if Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) does not exist in 5 years it will be because Nokia Corp has bought out the Siemens interest, the business has been renamed Nokia Networks, and it is once again a wholly owned division of Nokia Corp. The latest speculation on the Nortel carve-up is here ...
>> Nokia Siemens Networks Reportedly Offers to Buy Larger Chunk of Nortel Networks
RTTNews
4/7/2009
tinyurl.com
Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture of Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Siemens AG (SI), offered to buy key assets of Nortel Networks Corp., the Wall Street Journal reported (see below), citing people familiar with the matter. Nokia Siemens is interested in assets, including Nortel's carrier networks unit and wireless research unit. According to the report, Nokia Siemens also seems to have made an unsolicited offer last month for large parts of Nortel's carrier networks group. This includes the CDMA group that produced most of Nortel's operating profit before the company entered bankruptcy-law proceedings in January. Meanwhile, Avaya Inc. and Siemens Enterprise Communications had reportedly bid for Nortel's business telecom unit last week. ###
>> Nokia Siemens Makes Offer for Parts of Nortel
Sara Silver & Dana Cimilluca
The Wall Street Journal
tinyurl.com
Nokia Siemens Networks, seeking a bigger foothold in the U.S. market, has offered to buy large pieces of Nortel Networks Corp., including much of its profitable carrier networks unit and a research unit developing a next-generation wireless technology, according to people familiar with the matter.
Separately, an auction of Nortel's enterprise, or business telecom, unit last week attracted bids from competitors Avaya Inc. and Siemens Enterprise Communications, according to others.
Nokia Siemens, a joint venture between Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG, the world's No. 2 supplier of telecom network gear by sales, is moving aggressively to court carriers in the U.S., where Nortel has a large installed base. According to the people familiar with the matter, it made an unsolicited offer last month for large parts of Nortel's carrier networks group, including the CDMA group that produced most of Nortel's operating profit before the company entered bankruptcy-law proceedings in January. Its bid includes an early voice technology known as TDM and Nortel's market-leading business in the voice-over-Internet technology called VoIP.
Nokia Siemens also wants a Nortel R&D unit focused on the LTE wireless technology being rolled out in coming years by the world's largest carriers, including Vodafone Group PLC and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Vodafone and Verizon Communications Inc. A person familiar with the matter said the deal would involve the transfer of more than 200 employees from Nortel. While Nortel has been in bankruptcy proceedings, Verizon has selected two other suppliers for LTE equipment, Alcatel Lucent SA, a major vendor, and Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, the world's largest supplier of traditional telecom equipment.
Meanwhile, Genband Inc., a closely held Plano, Texas, company, is formulating a bid for the piece of Nortel's carrier networks group that makes digital switches and media gateways, which connect traditional telecom network gear with newer technologies transmitting voice and data using Internet protocols, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Genband sells gateways that are also distributed by Nortel, and last year acquired the gateway business of Nokia Siemens.
Nortel, whose bankruptcy adviser is Lazard Freres & Co., is moving quickly to sell its major assets while under protection from creditors, despite a regulatory filing last month saying it was "in the process of stabilizing our business to maximize the chances of preserving all or a portion of the enterprise and evaluating our various operations to determine how to narrow our strategic focus in an effective and timely manner."
Until the dot-com bust early in the decade, Nortel was one of Canada's biggest companies, with 93,000 employees and stock valued at $250 billion. Overshadowed by larger Western rivals and by the emergence of low-cost Chinese equipment makers, it now employs 30,000 workers.
The sums being offered for the Nortel units are believed to be low, despite the company's reduced liabilities. Since its bankruptcy filing, Nortel has seen orders atrophy for its enterprise equipment, depressing prices, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Nortel spokesman Jay Barta wouldn't comment on specifics but said that "planning is under way and we are pursuing opportunities that we believe will provide maximum benefit to our key stakeholders, including our creditors, customers and employees."
At least three groups submitted bids last week for Nortel's enterprise unit, which makes equipment and software for business telecom networks, according to people familiar with the matter.
Siemens Enterprise Communications, which is controlled by the private equity firm Gores Group LLC, sees in Nortel's unit the chance to supply U.S. corporate customers and later migrate them to its own equipment. Avaya, which is owned by the private equity firms Silver Lake and TPG, already has a large base in the U.S. but could find cost savings by consolidating its staff and equipment with that of Nortel to better compete against Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest global provider of networking gear by sales. Cisco, as expected, did not submit a bid.
A third offer came from Golden Gate Capital, according to the people. Golden Gate, with $9 billion in assets under management, has invested in call centers and enterprise software and could combine those assets with the piece of Nortel's enterprise business that deals with telephony.
Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. ###
- Eric - |
