Nortel-Ericsson Combo Gets Courts’ Approval

Bankruptcy courts in the United States and Canada on Tuesday approved Ericsson's (ERIC) pending purchase of Nortel Networks Corp.’s (NT) CDMA and LTE assets.

Ericsson won an auction against Nokia Siemens Networks and private equity firm MatlinPatterson last Friday when it bid $1.13 billion; speculation then arose that Canada’s government would halt the transaction because it involved a foreign company.

But those concerns were hushed when judges gave their thumbs-up to an Ericsson-Nortel combo. The sale still is subject to regulatory and other closing conditions and, Ericsson pointed out, “the purchase price is subject to certain post-closing adjustments.”

Nortel and Ericsson expect the sale to close this year.