Ericsson acquires Nortel’s CDMA business for $1.13 billion in auction

Sweden's Ericsson, founded in 1876 by Lars Magnus Ericsson, has successfully bid for the bankrupt Nortel's CDMA business and LTE access assets for $1.13 billion yesterday.

Ericsson bagged in the auction Nortel's CDMA business, which is the second largest supplier of CDMA infrastructure in the world, and substantially all of Nortel's LTE Access assets giving it a strong technology position in next generation wireless networks, significantly expanding Ericsson's footprint in North America, particularly as this region is emerging as an early adopter of LTE technology.

Ericsson will also get of 2,500 Nortel employees, of which, 400 are researchers supporting the CDMA and LTE Access business.

Other competitors to the auction were Nokia Siemens Networks and buyer of distresed busineses Matlin Patterson Global Advisers LLC, one of Nortel's largest bondholders.

Nokia Siemens was the first off the ground with an unsolicited $650 million bid, which had set a base price for the assets.

Canadian company Research In Motion, maker of smartphone BlackBerry also announced that it was in the fray for Nortel's CDMA assets, but backed out after Nortel valued the assets at $1.1 billion and complained of Ericsson's unfair practice of blocking its bid.