TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 07/22/09 -- As previously
announced, on June 19, 2009, Nortel(1) (OTCBB: NRTLQ) entered into a
stalking horse sale agreement with Nokia Siemens to sell
substantially all of its CDMA business and LTE Access assets, subject
to higher or better offers being received. On June 29, 2009, in the
U.S., and June 30, 2009, in Canada, the courts established bidding
procedures for the auction of these assets. The auction is scheduled
to take place on July 24, 2009. Throughout this process, Nortel has
made every effort to ensure all who want to participate can, with the
goal of achieving the best outcome possible for employees and
customers and maximizing value for its stakeholders.
Nortel had been in discussions with RIM regarding a related
transaction but those discussions are currently on hold. Since the
approval of the bidding procedures, Nortel has engaged with a number
of potential bidders regarding the CDMA and LTE assets, including
RIM. Other parties moved expeditiously to comply with the court
approved procedures to become qualified bidders, and RIM did not
object to the approval of these procedures during the court process.
It was not until July 15 that RIM submitted a letter to Nortel asking
to be a qualified bidder and, since that time, Nortel has diligently
attempted to work with RIM on acceptable confidentiality terms
relating to Nortel's valuable intellectual property assets. RIM has
refused, however, to comply with the court approved procedures.
In order to participate in the court-approved bidding process, a
qualified bidder is required to execute a standard confidentiality
agreement. The agreement contains a common "standstill" provision
that allows Nortel to ensure it is directly involved in any future
negotiations on the sale of its assets. The standstill provision does
not preclude future offers by a bidder to acquire assets consistent
with any processes established by Nortel or the courts.
Confidentiality agreements are a standard part of the auction bidding
process and are designed to help run a fair process and protect a
company's confidential information, such as its intellectual
property. All qualified bidders are subject to confidentiality
agreements.
Nortel, the Canadian Monitor, the U.S. Unsecured Creditors' Committee
and the Ad Hoc Bondholder Group have reviewed the circumstances
related to RIM and have concluded that all bidders must comply with
the bidding rules in order to maintain the integrity of the
court-approved process. Consistent with that process, the auction
will commence as planned on Friday, July 24, 2009.
About Nortel
Nortel delivers communications capabilities that make the promise of
Business Made Simple a reality for our customers. Our next-generation
technologies, for both service provider and enterprise networks,
support multimedia and business-critical applications. Nortel's
technologies are designed to help eliminate today's barriers to
efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and
connecting people to the information they need, when they need it.
For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For
the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.
Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as
"could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends",
"estimates", "targets", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar
language and are considered forward-looking statements or information
under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based
on Nortel's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and
projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in
which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important
assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict
and the actual outcome may be materially different from those
contemplated in forward-looking statements. For additional
information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see
Nortel's Annual Report on Form10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless otherwise required
by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
(1)Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel
Networks.
Contacts:
Nortel
Jay Barta
Media
(972) 685-2381
jbarta@nortel.com
Nortel
Ryan Hill
(613) 765-7801
ryanhi1@nortel.com
www.nortel.com
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