The Canadian and US bankruptcy courts have approved the auction process to sell off Nortel's enterprise networking division.

The green light offers some hope for Nortel staff and customers. It means stalking horse Avaya will pay $475m if no other bids appear.

Interested parties have until 4 September to get their bids in. They would need to sign a confidentiality agreement and show evidence of adequate finance. Face to face bidding will take place 11 September in New York.

Following this auction the two top bids would go back to the bankruptcy courts on 15 September for approval.

Nortel flogged its wireless business to Ericsson last month for $1.13bn following a similar process, using Nokia Siemens Networks as the stalking horse.

The detailed legal documents are available here. ®

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