SANTA CLARA, Calif.—L.M. Ericsson and Lucent Technologies Inc. could find themselves in a bidding war today for Ethernet developer Riverstone Networks Inc.
Ericsson submitted a competing offer for Riverstone just over a month after Lucent and Riverstone agreed to a $170 million purchase price for Riverstone’s assets. Ericsson’s $178 million bid came just before the March 16 deadline for competing bids outlined in a petition Riverstone filed under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Riverstone said it received no other competing bids other than Ericsson’s offer and that it was reviewing the proposal.
Under Lucent’s proposal, most of Riverstone’s employees were expected to join Lucent in its Multimedia Network Solutions business. The two companies previously had cooperated on delivering carrier-grade Ethernet routers to service providers.
