Lucent buys Riverstone for $207 million

Lucent beats Ericsson to acquire Riverstone Networks.

Lucent this week won the bidding to acquire Riverstone Networks after increasing its initial offer by $37 million.

Lucent's final bid was $207 million in cash, as well as certain modifications to the asset purchase agreement originally signed by the companies Feb. 7. Lucent's offer topped a $178 million cash bid offered by rival Ericsson late last week.

Both companies sought Riverstone's metro Ethernet router assets to fill in product gaps in their data portfolios. Lucent had a partnership with Riverstone for IPTV opportunities.

"Riverstone's people and products will play an important role in advancing Lucent's end-to-end converged Ethernet/optical solutions and helping us in our efforts to take share of a growing carrier Ethernet market," said Ken Wirth, president of multimedia network solutions at Lucent, in a statement.

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Click to see: Lucent buys Riverstone for $207 million

Lucent's final bid was $207 million in cash, as well as certain modifications to the asset purchase agreement originally signed by the companies Feb. 7. Lucent's offer topped a $178 million cash bid offered by rival Ericsson late last week.

Both companies sought Riverstone's metro Ethernet router assets to fill in product gaps in their data portfolios. Lucent had a partnership with Riverstone for IPTV opportunities.

"Riverstone's people and products will play an important role in advancing Lucent's end-to-end converged Ethernet/optical solutions and helping us in our efforts to take share of a growing carrier Ethernet market," said Ken Wirth, president of multimedia network solutions at Lucent, in a statement.

The terms are subject to final approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which is scheduled for March 23. Lucent and Riverstone expect the transaction to close in early April.