Canadian Regulator Probes Nortel

Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE/Toronto: NT) is under investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) following the vendor's announcement that it may need to restate past financial results (see OSC Investigates Nortel).

In March, Nortel announced that it will probably have to restate its 2003 earnings and may even need to revisit some of the financial figures already restated last November (see Nortel Rattles Nerves). News that restated figures might require further revision led to the replacement of the company's CFO (see Nortel CFO Out ).

The OSC probe is in addition to the ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (see SEC Pops In on Nortel), all of which can only be making investors increasingly edgy.

News of the OSC investigation was released after the markets closed yesterday, when Nortel's share price stood at $5.87. In pre-market trading this morning the stock was down 7 cents to $5.80.

Recent events have seen the share price slump from its 12-month high of $8.50 in February this year. The 12-month low of $2.20 was recorded in April 2003.

Nortel is still due to announce its unaudited financial results for the first quarter on April 29 (see Nortel Sets Q1 Reporting Date).

— Ray Le Maistre, International Editor, Boardwatch