EU blesses Avaya acquisition of Nortel unit :: Editor’s Blog at Local Tech Wire

Posted Nov. 19, 2009 at 7:41 a.m.

EU blesses Avaya acquisition of Nortel unit

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — European regulators announced Thursday that they had found no reason that Avaya (NYSE: AV) should not take over Nortel's Enterprise Solutions business unit.

U.S. and Canadian officials had cleared the deal last week. The deal is expected to close in December.

"After examination, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it," the European Commission stated.

"The Commission's investigation revealed that the markets for PBXs and contact centres are very dynamic and are moving to internet protocol (IP)-based technologies. Post-merger, the combined entity would continue to face a number of strong and effective competitors giving customers the choice from a range of alternative providers for PBXs and contact centres," the announcement said.

Many of Nortel’s remaining 1,700 employees in the Triangle work for the enterprise business group. Most of the Enterprise business group operations are based in RTP and Richardson, Texas. The head of the group, Joel Hackney, is based in RTP.

Avaya has said it will retain some 60 percent of the Nortel Enterprise employees.

The Enterprise unit supplies landline phone systems and other communications equipment to businesses and large organizations around the world.

The EU announcement came a day after Nortel said it had received at least one more expression of interest in its Metro Ethernet unit and would open bidding on it on Friday.