OSS vendor CSG Systems on Friday submitted a £236.7 million (€277 million) bid for rival Intec, while Ericsson picked up Nortel's MSS business.
The boards of CSG and Intec said they had been negotiating since July to reach the £0.72 per share bid price, which represents a 44% premium on its share price two days before the talks started.
UK-based Intec concentrates on BSS services for mobile providers, and counts China Mobile, AT&T and Vodafone among its customers.
While the Intec board has endorsed the takeover, rumors of a counterbid are rife, according to Rethink Wireless.
That speculation lifted Intec's stock 31.9%, pushing its price 1.5 pence above the takeover offer.
But the companies said the deal already has the backing of Intec's 11.9% shareholder General Atlantic.
“We believe that both Intec’s... solutions aimed at fixed mobile and next generation networks and CSG’s customer interaction management suite will be attractive to one another's customer base as well as service providers worldwide,” CSG CEO Peter Kaplan said.
He says the two companies product offerings are complementary, with little overlap between clients or infrastructure as well.
CSG's Nasdaq share price fell 32 cents on Friday trading following the announcement, closing at $20.65. Intec's London-listed stock gained 18p, or just under 32%, to 74.50p.
Separately, Ericsson announced it will acquire Nortel’s bankrupt MSS business for $65 million, to feed its CDMA and GSM business units.
The deal, which must be approved by bankruptcy courts, will be structured as an asset purchase, meaning Ericsson will not be required to take on any of Nortel's debt
Nortel has now sold off nearly all its business units, but still retains a large portfolio of patents in areas such as 4G technologies.