펀기사 - Ericsson to Buy Nortel’s Stake in Venture With LG (Update1)

블룸버그 기사입니다.

 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-21/ericsson-to-buy-nortel-s-stake-in-venture-with-lg-update1-.html

 

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(Adds analyst in third paragraph, Ericsson stock in fifth.)

By Kevin Cho and Diana ben-Aaron

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Ericsson AB, the world’s largest maker of wireless networks, agreed to buy Nortel Networks Corp.’s stake in its South Korean venture with LG Electronics Inc. for $242 million in cash.

Ericsson plans to buy a controlling 50 percent-plus-one- share stake in LG-Nortel Co. from Nortel, Stockholm-based Ericsson and Toronto-based Nortel said in separate statements today.

“Ericsson hasn’t managed to enter the Korean networks market before, and now it will get ongoing contracts and customer relationships,” said Haakan Wranne, an analyst with Swedbank Markets in Stockholm. “The price is what we could expect. It’s another piece of the puzzle to increase their Asian footprint.” He rates Ericsson “reduce.”

Nortel, once North America’s biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, has been auctioning its assets since filing for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S. in January 2009. Ericsson last year bought Nortel’s wireless equipment business making systems based on the code-division multiple access wireless standard, or CDMA, which is used mainly in the U.S., China, Japan and Korea.

Ericsson rose as much as 3 kronor, or 3.7 percent, to 82.40 kronor, and traded at 81.80 kronor as of 1:29 p.m. in Stockholm. LG Electronics, the world’s third-largest maker of mobile-phone, gained 1.2 percent to close at 123,500 won on the Korea Exchange, while the benchmark Kospi index climbed 1.7 percent.

Technology Shifts

“A strengthening of our position through the collaboration with our new partner LG Electronics will enhance our position for future technology shifts such as LTE,” Hans Vestberg, Ericsson Chief Executive, said in the statement.

Long-term evolution, or LTE, is a technology that offers wireless broadband speeds comparable to fast landlines. It’s initially aimed at computer users with wireless dongles. The Nortel unit Ericsson bought last year included LTE gear and development teams.

Ericsson in July agreed to cooperate with the South Korean government on a “green ecosystem” based on so-called fourth- generation wireless technology.

“The transaction is expected to have a positive effect on Ericsson’s earnings within a year after closing,” which is subject to regulatory approval, the company said in the statement. SEB Enskilda advised Ericsson on the transaction.

--Editors: Jonathan Annells, Suresh Seshadri.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kevin Cho in Seoul at kcho2@bloomberg.net; Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki at +358-9-2512-2684

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net; Vidya Root in Paris at vroot@bloomberg.net