Ciena Reportedly Wins Bidding For Nortel Optical Assets.
Monday, November 23, 2009 ET.
By Eric Savitz
Ciena (CIEN) has reportedly won the bidding for Nortel’s optical networking and carrier ethernet business for $769 million, beating out an offer from Nokia Siemens Networks (NOK, SIE), according to Reuters, which cites simply “sources.” Ciena’s bid consists of $530 million in cash and $239 million in convertible notes, Reuters says, citing anonymous sources. The notes are to be due June 15, 2017, and pay an inerest rate of 6%, possibly increasing to 8% if Ciena’s stock falls, according to the Reuters report,
In a statement, Nokia Siemens confirmed that the company and a financial partner did not submit the highest bid for the assets. According to previous reports, Nokia Siemens was partnering on the offer with private equity firm One Equity Partners.
Ciena had originally bid $522 million, in an offer that was to consist of $390 million in cash and 10 million Ciena shares.
Reuters notes that Ciena has just over $! billion in cash and about $798 million in debt. |
