TORONTO — LM Ericsson’s US$1.13-billion deal to buy key assets of insolvent Nortel Networks won court approval in Canada and the United States on Tuesday despite objections to the sale.
Both judges said they were satisfied that the Nortel assets were being sold at a fair price, that no bidder was unfairly shut out of the auction and that both Nortel and its creditors will benefit.
Before the decisions were handed down, opposition to the deal sprang from a number of groups who say the company is too valuable to fall into foreign hands, including federal opposition parties, the Ontario government and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (TSX:RIM), which failed in its own bid for the assets.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton asked the federal government to block the sale of insolvent Nortel’s cutting-edge technology, appealing to the other parties in Parliament to convene an emergency session of the Commons industry committee to consider the sale.