Shares of Nortel Networks (TSX: T.NT, Stock Forum) climbed 87% to 31 cents Thursday with over 20 million shares traded, as the company won approval from a bankruptcy court to sell its data-switch business to Radware (NASDAQ: RDWR, Stock Forum) for more than $17 million, according to reports from Bloomberg.
The company reportedly canceled a March 23 auction for some assets of its Layer 4-7 business after no other bids were received, says Bloomberg.
Back in January, Nortel announced that it obtained an order for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.
Nortel has put out several news releases this week, including one earlier on Thursday, saying that it will showcase new unified communications capabilities at VoiceCon 2009 in Orlando. Earlier this week, the company noted that it ranked number one in 40G shipments in Q4 2008 by Dell'Oro Group with a 32% share and recently shipped its 1000th 40G wavelength.
Nortel also said earlier in the week that Neos Networks, the telecoms business of Scottish and Southern Energy plc, has tested a 100G DWDM optical solution from Nortel on its existing optical backbone.
Yesterday, Nortel reported that it is unleashing a host of new contact center products, including Contact Center 7.0 followed by enhancements to Nortel's interactive voice response solution, the Interactive Communications Portal and added functionality to the company's Agile Communication Environment platform.
Stockhouse members were giving their thoughts on the future of the company, Thursday. Referencing the number of press releases the company has put out this week, Stockhouse member u2bob said: “Looks like there trying to say there going to be around for awhile yet...[sic]”
shackle replied: “Yup, they may not be going anywhere. With their exhibits and several UC solutions on the floor Nortel is strutting their stuff. IMHO I can see an agreement being met that the creditors can live with and Nortel getting on with business. NT shares remain in place and its onwards and upwards for profitable future with SP stabilizing $3.00 - $4.00[sic]”
u2bob also noted:
...Im still wondering if Huawei or ZTE will take out NT ? Chinese have been buying up a lot of companies...and with the large tax credits NT has ...and Huawei doing business with BCE and Telus it makes alot of sense.
One option for Huawei would include purchasing the assets of a company such as Nortel Networks Corp. out of bankruptcy, although such a deal is unlikely, according to people familiar with the matter.
Huawei and ZTE have had more success in developing regions that have never had landlines. Huawei also has become a major vendor in Europe, where it has won numerous contracts with players such as Vodafone Group PLC and France Telecom SA's Orange. And Huawei has gained a foothold in Canada, where it is building third-generation networks for BCE Inc.'s Bell Canada and Telus Corp.[sic]