Ciena will buy part of Nortel biz for US$769 m

Ciena Corp will buy the optical networking and carrier ethernet business of bankrupt Nortel for US$769 million, sources told Reuters, after it trumped Nokia Siemens Networks in a three-day auction.

The deal will more than double Ciena’s turnover, prompting the market to focus on how the US network equipment maker will integrate the new operations and cope with an increased debt load. Ciena’s winning offer consists of US$530 million in cash and US$239 million in convertible notes, one of the sources said.

The final bid by rival Nokia Siemens, which had teamed with private equity firm One Equity Partners, came very close to Ciena’s offer, the source added.