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NEW YORK — A private equity firm specializing in distressed assets says it is bidding $725 million to acquire the cell phone network assets of Nortel Networks Corp., topping a previous $650 million bid from Nokia Siemens Networks.
MPAM Wireless, an affiliate of MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners III LP, said it submitted the bid for Nortel's CDMA and LTE assets to Nortel and its creditors Tuesday.
CDMA, or code division multiple access, is a rival standard to the dominant cellular standard GSM, or global system for mobile, while LTE is a next-generation wireless network technology.
Nortel, a former telecommunications equipment powerhouse, sought bankruptcy protection in January and was planning to liquidate its business.
MPAM said in a statement that it believes a "New Nortel" can emerge from bankruptcy as a whole company.
"We are unwilling to accept and will actively take steps to prevent a 'fire sale' of Nortel's core assets followed by the wholesale liquidation of the remaining businesses," it said in a statement.
MPAM said it had formed a team of advisers led by former Nortel executives Dion Joannou, Richard Piasentin and Tony Pirih. MatlinPatterson Global Advisers LLC is a $9 billion global private equity firm established in 2002.
Nokia Siemens, a 50-50 joint venture of Finnish handset maker Nokia Corp. and German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG, said it believed its bid was the best.
"We're looking at the options but we really do just continue to believe that our offer is the one that ensures a long-term partner with global scale and proven experience in the telecom infrastructure space," said Nokia Siemens spokeswoman Chantal Boeckman.
A bankruptcy court-sponsored auction will be held Friday and a hearing on its results is expected on July 28.
