Avaya has been given the green light by the Canadian government to acquire Nortel Network’s enterprise solutions business for $900 million.
Canada’s Minister of Industry Tony Clement said that the acquisition would likely to be of net benefit to Canada. Under Avaya’s proposal the vendor has committed to continue to operate Nortel's Belleville, Ontario and Ottawa Research and Development facilities.
“Avaya committed to continue to invest in the development of R&D in Canada and to employ a large proportion of Nortel's Enterprise Solutions' current Canadian employees, including its R&D employees. In short, this investment will maintain R&D activity and jobs in Canada,” he said.
The R&D facilities will be made centers of excellence and bases for technology development while Belleville will also be a center for worldwide hardware development and support.
Avaya said that it has passed regulatory reviews of the proposed acquisition in the United States, Canada and the European Union, and expects to close the transaction this month.
The acquisition includes the Nortel Enterprise Solutions voice, data and government systems businesses.
Avaya is owned by private equity firms Silver Lake Partners LP and TPG Partners.