RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – MPAM Wireless, affiliate of MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners III, has bid $725 million to acquire the cell phone network assets of Nortel Networks Corp.

Matlin Patterson is one of Nortel’s largest debt holders.

The bid tops the previous $650 million proffered by Nokia Siemens Networks, but asked for government intervention because it was being blocked from the potential acquisition.

Nortel, which sells telecommunications equipment, asked for bankruptcy protection in January and plans to liquidate the business.

The company employs 2,000 people in the RTP.

Canadian Blackberry device maker Research In Motion has also said it wants to bid for the Nortel assets, saying it would pay about twice the Nokia bid.

Related Stories:

• Nortel files for bankruptcy
• Ericsson wins auction for Nortel assets, paying $1.13B
• Maryland-based Ciena wins Nortel assets for $769M
• Indian firm makes $3.5 million bid for RTP based Nobex
• Atlanta-based Transcend bids $78.2M to acquire Spheris

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