Nortel Still Waiting for a MEN Buyer

In many respects, the beginning of the end for Nortel (NRTLQ.PK) happened a year ago when the company announced plans to sell its Metro Ethernet Network business – an asset many people considered to be Nortel’s crown jewel.

In theory, the plan was that MEN would pull in $1-billion to $2-billion, which would provide Nortel more financial flexibility so CEO Mike Z. could continue his restructuring plan. Unfortunately, the capital markets suddenly melted down, which caused spending on telecom equipment to decline, and valuations for telecom assets to drop.

Nortel subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection, and MEN is still a part of Nortel. It is somewhat surprising Nortel hasn’t sold MEN given it was the first major asset to officially be put on the block. As well, MEN had some interesting optical technology attracting a lot of attention as carriers looking to install higher-speed networks.

There has been speculation Ciena could be a potential purchaser but Nortel seems more intent on selling other assets (the CDMA wireless, enterprise and carrier software businesses) before it puts MEN on the block.

Happy Birthday, MEN!

Comments

[Nettligent:]

Nortel MEN is very solid and has a great potential. I successfully deployed its MEN solution, Best of the Bests. Hopefully, Nortel can quickly turn itself around.
There were many customers and demands are good but Nortel faced 2 biggest issues: bankruptcy and champions.

Sep 24 03:02 AM