Capital Markets: Ericsson buys Nortel's JV, Apple results, etc.

Ericsson reported it has entered into an agreement to purchase Nortel’s majority shareholding in LG-Nortel, renaming the venture LG-Ericsson. Terms of the deal were not released. Ericsson had previously acquired Nortel’s GSM assets in North America. Ericsson said the joint venture will include contracts with Korean operators KT, LG Telecom and SK Telecom. In 2009, LG-Nortel generated approximately $650 million in sales and had 1,300 employees. SEB Enskilda acted as Ericsson’s sole financial advisor in the transaction.



 

Apple Inc. reported its fiscal second-quarter results, including revenues of $13.5 billion, up from revenues of $9.08 billion during the same period last year. Net profit for the quarter was $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per share, compared with profit of $1.62 billion, or$1.79 per share, last year.

 

China Telecom reportedly plans to invest nearly $12 billion to expand and optimize its 3G network.

 

Crown Castle International Corp. declared a quarterly dividend on its 6.25% convertible preferred stock, which will be paid May 17 to shareholders of record on May 1. The dividend will be paid in cash at a rate of $0.78125 per share of preferred stock, said the company.

 

Meru Networks Inc. went public late last month with an initial public offering of nearly 4.4 million shares priced at $15 per share. The company’s stock began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on March 31 under the ticker symbol “MERU.”

 

Millicom International Cellular said its first-quarter revenues increased 16% to $905 million from $779 million during the first quarter last year. Net profit for the quarter was $155.5 million, or $1.43 per share, compared with net profit of $139.6 million, or $1.29 per share, for the same period last year.

 

Mobile TeleSystems said it is changing its ratio for American Depositary Receipts to 1 ADR per 2 common shares effective May 3. The current ratio is 1 ADR per 5 common shares.

 

Research In Motion Ltd. said it agreed to purchase for cancellation 2 million of its outstanding common shares. The common shares were repurchased through a private agreement. This repurchase along with nearly 4 million shares repurchased on the open market nearly complete the $1.2 billion share repurchase program the company announced in November of last year.

 

Sony Ericsson reported first-quarter results, which included $1.9 billion in sales, compared with sales of $2.3 billion during the first quarter last year. Net income was $28.2 million, compared with a net loss of $393 million during the same period last year.

 

Texas Instruments Inc.’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 12 cents per share, which will be payable May 17 to shareholders of record on April 30.

 

Veraz Networks Inc. said it has received notice from The Nasdaq Stock Market that it has regained compliance with the $1 minimum bid price requirement to remain listed. The company was first notified by Nasdaq that it was out of compliance with its minimum bid price requirement in September.

 

Oak Hill Capital Partners has entered an agreement to acquire ViaWest Inc. from its current owners, which includes Trinity Capital Investors, Goldman Sachs & Co. and QuilVest. ViaWest operates 16 enterprise-class data center facilities, providing collocation and managed services to mid-sized business and enterprises. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. RBC Daniels and Cowen and Company advised ViaWest on the transaction.

 

Upcoming earnings:



Nokia April 22

 

PCTel April 22

 

Texas Instruments April 26

 

Tellabs April 27

 

Crown Castle April 28

 

InterDigital April 28

 

Openwave April 28

 

Sprint Nextel April 28


 

Tessco April 28


 

Verisign April 28

 

CommScope April 29

 

TeleCommunication Systems April 29

 

Alvarion May 4


 

American Tower May 4

 

Powerwave May 4

 

Syniverse May 4


 

Clearwire May 5


 

SBA May 5


 

Leap May 6


 

MetroPCS May 6


 

Novatel May 6