详讯：Nortel 北电网络向美国法庭申请破产保护

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新浪科技讯 北京时间1月14日晚消息，据国外媒体报道，受全球信贷紧缩状况和销售下滑的影响，电信设备制造商北电网络周三向美国特拉华州威尔明顿破产法庭申请了破产保护。这是全球经济危机下第一家申请破产保护的主要科技企业。

　　据总部位于多伦多的北电网络今天提交破产申请文件称，该公司资产和负债均超过10亿美元，北电及其下属的多家分公司已经按照美国破产法第11章的规定，向特拉华州威尔明顿破产法庭申请了破产保护，并表示旗下几家加拿大分公司也将于今天申请破产保护。北电网络将在明天偿还约1.07亿美元的债券利息。

　　北电网络发表电子邮件声明称：“公司仍将维持正常的日常运营而不会中断，申请破产保护的程序将允许北电网络坚决地处理成本和债务负担问题、有效重组业务运营并以有效的、及时的方式收窄战略重心。”

　　自从CEO迈克·扎菲罗夫斯基(Mike Zafirovski)于2005年上任以来，北电网络已经损失了将近70亿美元，现有资金已难以维持运营。作为北电网络38亿多美元债券的托管方，纽约梅隆银行(Bank of New York Mellon)是该公司最大的无担保债权人。

　　市场研究机构野村国际(Nomura International)驻伦敦的全球技术专家理查德·温莎(Richard Windsor)称：“如果北电网络非破产不可，那么现在就破产是更好的选择。申请破产保护意味着，北电网络已无力稳定现金流状况。”

　　自2006年以3.2亿美元价格将旗下UMTS(WCDMA)部门出售给阿尔卡特以来，北电网络的销售一直下滑。北电网络之所以出售该部门，旨在集中致力于WiMMAX无线技术业务，不过北电最近也在削弱WiMAX的投入。

　　截至去年9月30日为止，计入对经营租赁、养老金赤字及其他项目的修正，北电网络负债已经上升至63亿美元，并持有10亿美元的2011年到期的债券，总债务达将近120亿美元。

　　北电网络在破产申请文件中称，该公司有2.5万多名债权人。文件显示，北电网络旗下的Nortel Networks Capital公司有100多名债权人，负债达1亿美元到5亿美元；此外，该公司旗下位于新加坡的Flextronics International部门负债则达5000万美元以上。

　　北电网络称，今天申请的破产保护不涉及旗下位于亚洲、加勒比海和拉丁美洲的部门，也不涉及该公司的政府解决方案部门。(叶柳)



Nortel Networks Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S. bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, according to court filings, Bloomberg News reported.

Trading of Nortel Networks stock was halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange Wednesday morning.

The move comes after the company's board of directors met Tuesday night to deal with its financial crisis.

Today the company blamed the global recession for hitting plans to turn around fortunes and restructure the company.

Nortel said that it has $2.4 billion U.S. in cash to fund operations and other obligtions during the restructuring process under bankruptcy

protection.

"Nortel must be put on a sound financial footing once and for all," said Nortel President and CEO Mike Zafirovski. "These actions are imperative so

that Nortel can build on its core strengths and become the highly focused and financially sound leader in the communications industry that its people,

technology and customer relationships show it ought to be.

"I am confident that the actions we're announcing today will be the fastest, most effective means to translate our improved operational efficiency, double-digit productivity, focused R&D and technology leadership

into long-term success. I want to reaffirm Nortel's dedication to delivering world-class solutions and services to customers."

Nortel said that it has support from Flextronics, its major manufacturer source, to continue to produce equipment for customers. Nortel agreed to buy $120 million U.S. of existing inventory in Flextronic supply chains by

July 1, 2009 and to make quarterly purchases of other inventory.

It also said that Export Development Canada, which provides short-term financing on foreign equipment sales, will provide $30 million in support.

Nortel shares fell more than 20 per cent Tuesday, two days before the struggling telecom equipment maker is due to make an interest payment of about $107 million.

Nortel — North America's biggest maker of telephone gear — had about $2.3 billion U.S. in cash and cash equivalents at the end of September, suggesting it would have no difficulty in making the debt payment.

Even so, Duncan Stewart, an analyst at DSAM Consulting in Toronto, said "the issue is not whether or not they can pay it. ... It's the idea of: if you know you're eventually going to default anyway, why not do it now and keep the ... interest payments you would have shelled out?"

A Nortel spokesman declined to comment on whether the company would make the payment. "It is our policy to not comment on our creditor obligations other than what we disclose in our public filings," he said.

Nortel's shares were down 21.5 per cent to 40 Canadian cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon. In mid-2000, they were worth more than $1,100 each, adjusted for a stock consolidation that took place in late 2006.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue has warned that bankruptcy is a "distinct possibility" for Toronto-based Nortel and that it could collapse under its debt load before 2011.

Last month, a media report said Nortel had sought legal advice on a bankruptcy-protection scenario in case its current restructuring plan fails.

Nortel's 10.75 per cent notes due in 2016 fell to 24.5 cents on the dollar yesterday, yielding almost 50 per cent, according to MarketAxess data.

Nortel has faced intense competition from North American and European rivals such as Alcatel-Lucent, as well as low-cost Asian vendors such as Huawei Technologies. The company has also suffered as telecom companies scale back spending on the equipment that Nortel makes.

The global economic slowdown has exacerbated Nortel's problems, leading it to warn last month that because of current conditions, its business is under pressure and its cash and liquidity are deteriorating.

In November, Nortel reported a $3.4-billion U.S. quarterly loss, cut its 2008 outlook and announced 1,300 layoffs, about five per cent of its staff. It also said it would freeze salary increases, cut back on consultants and review its real estate portfolio.

At its peak, Nortel employed 20,000 people. Today it has a staff of 4,600.

Nortel estimates it had $2.4 billion U.S. in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of the end of December, and total long-term debt of roughly $4.5 billion U.S. Only $20 million U.S. worth of the debt's principal is due within the next 9 months and no signficant amounts after that until 2011. On the face of it, this should give the company enough leeway to make the bond interest payments due this year but it's not clear how quickly Nortel's sales are falling.

The company has implemented a number of cost-saving measures, including more than 1,000 job cuts, the elimination of all travel that does not directly involve customers, and salary freezes. Nortel is also cutting its use of outside consultants. These and other operational cuts are expected to save Nortel $400 million U.S. in 2009 but the net savings will be only $150 million U.S. because of one-time expenses related to layoffs and restructuring.


Nortel files for bankruptcy protection

 

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What happens next? A Nortel Q & A




By Bert Hill, The Ottawa CitizenJanuary 14, 2009 11:01 AM



OTTAWA — Nortel Networks has filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors. What
does this mean?
Q: Will Nortel employees lose their jobs, pensions and other benefits?
A: No. Bankruptcy protection is different from outright liquidation of a
failing company. Protection allows a company to continue to operate and
employees continue to work and get paid while it reorganizes operations,
cuts jobs, sells assets and renegotiate contracts with suppliers.
Creditors owed $4.5 billion will have first rights to assets that come out
of the proceedings depending on the priority of their holdings. If the
process of negotiations were to fail, liquidation could follow but that is
unlikely.
Q: Will shareholders get anything?
A: Probably not. Share values typically go to zero because debt holders get
first call on assets. Employees and pension holders are also guaranteed
pay and pension rights.
Q: Will the federal government intervene?
A: Possibly, because Nortel is a Canadian business icon. However, with
only about 20 per cent of its workforce of 33,000 in Canada, there will be
little pressure to protect operations here — unlike the troubled automotive
industry. The biggest Canadian exposure is likely the short-term financing
provided by the Export Development Canada to manage sales of equipment
outside Canada. It will likely be near the top of creditors in terms of
priority for payment..
Q: What is likely to happen next?
A: A trustee will likely be appointed to oversee Nortel management efforts
to run the company through the crisis. Nortel has almost $2 billion in cash
assets to assist in the process. Major creditors could provide additional
financing to manage the process of selling marketable assets and
reorganizing the remaining company into a viable entity — assuming that is
still possible. This so-called packaged bankruptcy would also improve their
priority for repayment from the assets. It is likely these creditors are
already involved in the negotiations leading to today's filing.
Q: Nortel has been trying to sell assets for some time, including the Metropolitan
Ethernet Networks Division and likely parts of its advanced wireless
networking business. Why has this not happened and will that now change?
A: Buyers were reluctant to buy at a time when their own business is under
stress as a result of the global recession. They are trying to protect
their cash and also likely betting that Nortel assets would be worth a lot
less in the future — as customers flee and business drops off in the weak
economic times.
Now, they will have a clearer idea of what is available and what it will
cost them to buy in a court-supervised auction of assets. They will also
have a clearer idea of what liabilities might come, including pension and
debt obligations.
Q: Will Nortel survive?
A: It might emerge as a smaller company selling a few key products such as corporate phone systems to major enterprise and government customers. That
is a business generating about $2.5 billion in sales — about 25 per cent of
current sales. Nortel currently ranks third behind Avaya and Cisco in this
market.
There is likely to be considerable interest in Nortel's metropolitan
ethernet and optical networking gear as well as its advanced
fourth-generation wireless equipment research. It is cutting edge
technology that would likely be attractive to buyers like Nokia-Siemens,
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei and others.
Q: What is the future of Nortel in Ottawa?
A: The Ottawa workforce of 4,200 is much smaller than when its surpassed
20,000 just nine years ago. The numbers will likely decline as some people
are laid off or leave for better opportunities with stronger employers.
However, Nortel Ottawa is involved in developing products for virtually all
of Nortel wireless, wireline, optical and corporate products and many of
those jobs would likely continue here. With the rapid decline in the
Canadian dollar in recent months, this intellectual asset is probably more
valuable to buyers. The question will be what the corporate signs might
read outside the buildings.