Nortel L4-7 Sale to Proceed with Radware

No other bidders having stepped forward, Nortel will proceed with the planned sale of its Layer 4-7 data division to Radware for $17 million.Radware agreed to the purchase as a "stalking horse" buyer, meaning that other potential buyers were invited to bid up the price of the L4-7 unit in an auction. But in papers filed in bankruptcy court at the end of last week, Nortel notified the court that no other qualified bids were submitted by the March 19 deadline, meaning the sale to Radware will go through as agreed. Nortel will seek approval of the sale to Radware on March 26.

The L4-7 sale was announced before the Wall Street Journal reported that Nortel was looking to sell the entire Enterprise division, with Avaya and Siemens reportedly showing interest in a deal. It's unclear whether the tepid level of interest in the L4-7 portfolio reflects only this division's narrow product focus, or whether it indicates potential acquirers could shy away from the Enterprise division as a whole--or at least hold off in hopes that Nortel's assets' values will decline in the weeks and months ahead.