Judges in Delaware and Ontario jointly decided to divide the remaining US$7.3 billion in Nortel assets on a pro-rata basis between bond holders, pensioners, and global subsidiaries. Approximately $0.71 per $1 of claims will likely be provided.

The decision is considered a major win for pensioners, as bond holders are typically first in line to be paid. Although the judges urged stake holders to move on, an appeal by bond holders in the US or Canada is possible.

Because of the multinational nature of Nortel, this was one of the most complex bankruptcies in history. This decision has been dragging on for years. See http://www.truepulse.com/news-nortel/ for some past history.

Nortel’s on-going businesses were sold off years ago: their Optera optical transport group to Ciena, their DMS switching group to Genband, their Enterprise business to Avaya, their Passport data products to Hitachi, and their GSM business to Ericsson and Kapsch.