Nokia Siemens Networks will go to court to re-open bidding for Nortel’s optical and carrier Ethernet business, which was sold to rival Ciena last week for €509 million.
The vendor will tell the bankruptcy court it is prepared to pay €537 million for the assets, a Nokia Siemens spokesperson has confirmed.
The court is due to hear the matter Wednesday, December 2.
NSN will argue in court that the convertible notes offered by Ciena “carry significant risk and should not be valued the same as cash,” NSN spokesman Barry French told Reuters.
“We can confirm we have notified the representatives of Nortel's creditors that we are willing to offer US$810 million in cash for the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel, an increase to our final bid in the auction,” he said.
Ciena has agreed to pay €351 million in cash and €158 million in convertible notes for Nortel’s carrier Ethernet and optical networking products, patents and contracts.