Deals done this past week


26 Apr 2010

An overview of the week in deals in the Irish technology sector, including Ericsson to buy Nortel’s majority stake in LG-Nortel and Furious Tribe winning three mobile apps accounts.

Ericsson to buy Nortel’s majority stake in LG-Nortel

Swedish firm Ericsson is to buy Nortel’s majority stake in LG-Nortel, which is a joint venture between LG Electronics and Nortel Networks, for US$242m.

Ericsson, the world’s largest mobile network equipment maker, said the acquisition would significantly expand its footprint in the Korean market and provide it with a well-established sales channel and strong R&D capability in the country.

The firm also said taking on Nortel’s controlling stake in LG-Nortel would provide it with an industrial base in Korea and the ability to build new customer relationships. 

US firm Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January and had been seeking a buyer for its stake in LG-Nortel.

Furious Tribe wins three global mobile apps accounts

A Dublin-based digital marketing agency is positioning itself to win a share of a market tipped to grow to US$17.5bn after winning the mobile app accounts for global brands Citibank, EMI Music and Royal Sun Alliance.

The news comes at a time when consumers are expected to spend $6.2bn in mobile application stores as the number of apps will number 4.6bn downloads in 2010.

€400k deals for SAP Business Objects training firm

A Stillorgan-based training specialist has won a number of deals in the past six months valued at €400,000 for its work in SAP training and software services.

Olas, whose clients include customers such as the International Criminal Courts in The Hague, CMC Coal, and MSI Signs, as well as a major Irish food company, has also announced that SAP has awarded it the sole Education Partner for its SAP Business Objects portfolio in Ireland.

Cisco closes Tandberg deal as video conferencing boosted

Even volcanic clouds have silver linings: news that Cisco’s acquisition of Tandberg has now been formally approved came in a week when the need for this technology had never been more apparent.

Cisco completed its US$3.3bn acquisition of Norwegian firm Tandberg last week, making the US networking giant the biggest player in the video-conferencing market. Industry analysts say the market had been growing anyway, but the severe disruption to business travel caused by last week’s volcano eruption in Iceland is likely to increase that trend.