Bankrupt broadband wireless vendor Alvarion saw its shares leap by 40%, from receivership, as it won several bids to acquire its assets as a going concern.
The Israeli firm received four offers, with interested parties including Radvision and Sigma Wave, (the latter had tried to fund Alvarion before the bankruptcy). However, the company has requested court approval to sell most of its activities to Valley Telecom, leaving the patents on the table. Patent hoarder Wi-LAN has made a bid of US$600,000 for the IPR.
The Valley deal would result in an immediate payment of $1.5m plus milestone payments of at least $1.8m within 12 months. Additional payments, above that minimum, will be subject to Valley being able to sell existing inventory and collect accounts receivables. The court-appointed receiver expects Alvarion to end up getting more than the guaranteed $1.8m and so regards this as the best of the offers on the table.
Valley also offered, separately, to pay $500,000 for newly issued shares, representing 75% of the company’s outstanding ordinary shares. Alvarion would issue new shares amounting to a 15% stake, while the existing ordinary shares would be diluted to 10%. The court will review Valley’s proposal, and those of the other three bidders, this week, while the sale of the patents will proceed independently.
The court has also granted the receiver’s request to extend Alvarion’s operating plan until August 30 to allow continued business operations.
Meanwhile Telrad, which acquired Alvarion’s WiMAX division earlier this year, has announced a new partnership with US systems integrator Wireless Connections. This is part of a program to create relationships with channel players with proven knowledge of Alvarion’s BreezeMax and Breeze Compact ranges.
Telrad has promised to evolve a cost effective migration path from WiMAX to LTE for customers, in order to keep channel partners loyal. Mike Cowan, president of Wireless Connections ‘ which will seel the Alvarion products across the Americas ‘ said: “We have been anticipating an LTE product release for some time. Now with Telrad’s commitment and expertise, we will finally have the next generation of LTE products which will enable us to future proof our customers’ networks and help drive further 4G adoption.’