Avaya receives Canadian approval for Nortel buy

Avaya hopes the acquisition of Nortel will strengthen its position in key markets

Avaya has today announced that the Canadian Minister of Industry, Tony Clement, has approved its acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions under the Investment Canada Act.

The company has now passed regulatory reviews in the US, Canada and the European Union, and is awaiting approvals from countries including Turkey and South Africa.

Michael Bayer, European president of Avaya, told V3.co.uk that the company is confident that it will have the deal finalised by the end of the year.

"Even if the approvals were not forthcoming within this timeframe, the company would complete the takeover anyway and achieve the necessary sanctions afterwards," he said.

Bayer noted that Avaya had been focusing on growth through acquisition, and that the timing of Nortel's filing for Chapter 11 status in the US at the start of the year had worked out well.

"We had ideas of how we could organically grow the business, but the acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions will help us leapfrog several stages and give us a good market share in several key areas," he said.

Bayer explained that Nortel's large installed base in areas like Canada, America, Asia and the Middle East would complement Avaya's existing channel offerings and strengthen its positions.

Bayer added that Avaya will announce a product roadmap in late January to outline how it will incorporate Nortel's products into its business.

Avaya paid $900m (£544m) in cash to Nortel, and set aside an additional pool of $15m (£9m) for an employee retention programme, as part of the deal announced in September.