Update 4/26/2024 4:15 pm ET: Lumine has beat out Skyvera with an increased $32.3 million bid for Casa System's cloud and radio assets.
Skyvera had put in a surprise bid to buy Casa's cloud and radio access network (RAN) assets for $18 million on April 19, beating Lumine's initial $16 million bid. Lumine, however, topped Skyvera Thursday with a higher bid of $32.3 million.
The deal should help Casa fund the rest of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process without having to lay-off workers.
Original story follows:
The Chapter 11 woes of Casa Systems are not over yet. The troubled telecom equipment vendor told a Delaware bankruptcy court recently that it wanted to reject a higher bid for its cloud and 5G assets by a TelcoDR subsidiary because it wanted to avoid a multi-party Chapter 11 auction.
Casa accepted a $16 million April 3 bid by software company Lumine Group for Casa’s 5G radio access network (RAN), core and cloud assets. But ESW Capital, representing TelcoDR subsidiary Skyvera, put in an $18 million bid for the cloud and radio assets, as reported by Law360 on April 19.
U.S. bankruptcy Judge Karen Owens told the parties that Casa will need to meet a more significant burden of evidence if Casa ultimately decides to waive an auction, and move forward with the Lumine deal in a private sale of assets. The hearing on the cloud and radio access network business sale is scheduled for April 26.
"It's not a secret that you have a heavy lift, and I'm going to keep you to that heavy lift," Judge Owens said.
TelcoDR CEO Danielle Royston did not reply to Fierce Network's request for comment.
“I think it's too early to tell what the outcome is going to be, but clearly there is more interest in Casa's wireless assets,” AvidThink analyst Roy Chua told us in an email. Additionally, Vecima Networks has placed a $20 million bid for Casa’s cable assets, which include its virtual broadband network gateway and content delivery software and services.
We'll see what happens!