Nortel Networks Corp. (NRTLQ) announced that its subsidiaries including Nortel Networks Limited (NNL), Nortel Networks Inc. and Nortel Networks U.K. Limited have completed a successful and final auction of all of Nortel’s remaining patents and patent applications.
After an auction that spanned days, a group of investors emerged as the winning bidder with a cash price of $4.5 billion. The consortium consists of Apple Inc. (AAPL), EMC Corp.(EMC), Ericsson (ERIC), Microsoft (MSFT) Research In Motion (RIM) and Sony Corp. (NSE).
The group beat out competing bidders Google Inc. (GOOG) and Intel (INTC).
The monumental sale includes more than 6,000 patent applications spanning wireless, 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, service provider, semiconductors and several other industry patents. The comprehensive portfolio corners almost every avenue in telecommunications and related markets, including Internet search solutions and social networking.
“Following a very robust auction, we are pleased at the outcome of the auction of this extensive patent portfolio”, said George Riedel, chief strategy officer at Nortel. “The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world.”
The sale is subject to customary court procedures in the U.S. and Canada, which are scheduled for July 11, 2011. Nortel and the consortium of companies will seek approval of the deal at a joint hearing with a plan to close the sale sometime in the third quarter of 2011.
Nortel previously announced that the company does not expect common shareholders or NNL preferred shareholders will receive any value from Nortel’s creditor protection proceedings and the company stated that it expects the proceedings will result in the cancellation of those equity interests.
