Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) has put in the winning bid to buy Nortel's multi-service switching (MSS) business.
With this acquisition, Ericsson will not only gain an already established product portfolio and customer base, but it will also ensure it can supply the MSS to existing CDMA and GSM customers.
Structured as an asset purchase, Ericsson will pay $65 million on a cash and debt free basis, beating out a previous $39 million bid made by PSP Holding--a special purpose entity supported by Marlin Equity Partners (Marlin) and Samnite Technologies.
Although the deal is subject to court approval and customary regulatory approvals, Ericsson will buy all of Nortel's MSS assets in North America, Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) in addition to Nortel's Data Packet Network and Shasta product group's patents.
MSS will be the third unit Ericsson has bought off Nortel, having already purchased its CDMA and GSM businesses.
For more:
- see the release here
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