W ith no additional bidders, Nortel Networks Corp. was forced to sell its global VoIP assets for only $182-million, well below their estimated worth. The Canadian telecom equipment-maker has been auctioning off assets to pay back billions of debt to creditors and in pension payments. Wednesday’s announcement that Nortel would close the sale of its voice over Internet protocol solutions business to Texas-based Genband Inc. follows an announcement in December. The price does not include $100-million Nortel is contributing in adjustments. The Nortel unit, known as the carrier VoIP and application solutions business (CVAS), was a world leader, providing soft switches and technology for wireless carriers around the world. But the so-called “stalking horse” offer by Genband, a private company, failed to attract other bidders. Jennifer Pigg, vice-president at the Yankee Group, estimated the unit would attract an initial bid of…

S yncrude Canada Ltd. is laying out plans to boost synthetic crude oil production to 425,000 barrels a day by 2020, the largest partner in the enormous oil sands project said Wednesday. The Mildred Lake upgrader can handle more of the tar-like bitumen from Syncrude’s vast mining operations than the 350,000 barrels per day it is currently able to churn out, Canadian Oil Sands Trust COS.UN-T said in a statement. In order to unlock the added capacity, some work needs to be done on that plant and other facilities. It’s not clear yet how much the revamps would cost, and all of the Syncrude partners as well as government regulators would need to approve the plans. “Under today’s economic conditions, we believe these expansion plans have the advantage of bringing on production growth with less project execution risk and better economics than constructing greenfield upgrading facilities,”…

V ictoria’s Secret parent Limited Brands Inc. LTD-N says its profit rose sharply in the fourth quarter as the retailer benefited from cost-cutting and tight inventory controls. Limited says it earned $356.1-million (U.S.), or $1.08 per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 30. That compares with $16.1-million, or 5 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue reached $3.06-billion, from $3-billion in the year-ago period. Adjusted net income was $1.01 per share, beating analyst expectations for 98 cents. The company expects first-quarter earnings between 5 and 10 cents per share. Analysts expect 7 cents. Limited is based in Columbus, Ohio.