Bankrupt telecom equipment giant Nortel Networks’s former worldwide units are squaring off over its last remaining asset: $9 billion in cash, Reuters reported today. Two judges, one in Wilmington, Del., and one in Toronto, will jointly hear arguments today that will ultimately decide how, and when, to carve up that money. The outcome will determine how much will be available for tens of thousands of retirees, governments and hedge funds investors. “The issues which remain for decision are imposing,” U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross wrote on Feb. 14. The hearing was preceded in January by a third failed attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation. Warren Winkler, the chief justice of Ontario who oversaw those talks, said further attempts at mediation were no longer worthwhile. He had warned before the final mediation that failure to reach an agreement could tie up the disputes in the courts for years, burning through Nortel’s cash to pay the army of lawyers and advisers working on the case. The last time the two courts heard arguments on the issue, 78 lawyers appeared, according to the court transcript.
