Ciena was the successful bidder in the auction of substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business. Ciena has agreed to pay US $530 million in cash and issue US $239 million in aggregate principal amount of 6% Senior Convertible notes due 2017 for a total consideration of US $769 million for the assets.
The assets to be acquired generated approximately $1.36 billion in revenue for Nortel in 2008 and $556 million (unaudited) in the first six months of 2009. Ciena expects the transaction to be significantly accretive to Ciena's results of operations in fiscal 2011. Ciena is also expected to make employment offers to at least 2,000 Nortel employees to become part of Ciena's global team of network specialists.
The transaction is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2010. 
"These optical and carrier Ethernet assets bring exceptional technologies, talent and scale that will accelerate Ciena's current strategy to deliver innovative network solutions to customers worldwide," said Gary Smith, Ciena's CEO and president. "With this combination, we are bringing together complementary technologies in switching and transport to create an innovative powerhouse with the scale to challenge the industry status quo and offer customers a practical path for transitioning to automated, optical Ethernet-based networking. We will be intently focused on integration as we work together to deliver the benefits of this transaction to customers, employees and shareholders."http://www.ciena.com
- For Q3 2009, Nortel reported sales of $295 million for its Metro Ethernet business, down 26% compared to a year earlier.
- In October, Ciena agreed to acquire all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business for $390 million in cash and 10 million shares of Ciena common stock. Based on the closing price of Ciena's stock on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, the initial deal was valued at $521 million but was subject to the competitive bidding process that drew in an offer from Nokia Siemens Networks.
- The deal includes Nortel's long-haul optical transport portfolio; metro optical Ethernet switching and transport solutions; Ethernet transport, aggregation and switching technology; multiservice SONET/SDH product families; and network management software products.
