Thursday, March 16, 2006

Ericsson Bids $178 Million for Riverstone

Ericsson made a last minute, $178 million offer to acquire Riverstone Networks, a supplier of carrier Ethernet infrastructure solutions for business and residential communications services.



On February 7, 2006, Riverstone and Lucent Technologies signed an asset purchase agreement in which the stated purchase price was $170 million, subject to certain potential adjustments. At the same time, Riverstone announced that it had filed a petition under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and that it intended to conduct an auction for the sale of its assets under section 363 of the Code.



The deadline for submission of bids was March 16, 2006. Riverstone received no bids other than the Ericsson offer by the deadline. http://www.riverstone.com

  • In September 2004, Lucent and Riverstone Networks formed a partnership to deliver Ethernet solutions for new and existing carrier networks. Specifically, Lucent agreed to integrate Riverstone's MPLS-based Ethernet routing equipment with Lucent systems, software and professional services. Riverstone's equipment also complements Lucent's access and metro optical networking solutions. The agreement is non-exclusive.