November 17, 2009Today's the deadline for parties interested in pulling Nortel's MEN optical and Ethernet assets out from under Ciena. Nortel had extended the bid deadline last week.
A Nortel source says that an auction for the assets would likely follow a few days from now "if there are other bidders." Ciena has submitted a stalking horse bid of approximately $521 million that will win the assets if no other bidders materialize.
The company will likely issue an update tomorrow, November 18.
UPDATE: 11:25 AM EST, November 18: "Short release" in works, says Nortel source.
UPDATE: 2:55 PM EST Still nothing. Perhaps they're waiting for the market to close.
UPDATE: 4:45 PM EST The auction is on for this Friday!
