Nortel-Avaya Deal to Be Reviewed by Canadian Government

It looks the federal government has been listening to the growing number of critics who have been chirping away about how foreign buyers are picking up Nortel’s (NRTLQ.PK) assets with little opposition from Ottawa.

It may explain why the federal government has decided to review Avaya’s (AV) $915-million purchase of Nortel Networks Corp’s enterprise business – a move that comes after Ottawa recently declined to review Ericsson’s (ERIC) $1.13-billion acquisition of Nortel’s CDMA wireless business and LTE R&D unit.

“We’ve determined that in this case the Avaya deal is in fact subject to review under the Investment Canada Act,” Industry Minister Tony Clement said, adding it was standard procedure for foreign investments that have a book value of $312 million.

You have to wonder what Research in Motion (RIMM) executives are thinking given how adamant they were about having the Ericsson deal reviewed.