Genuity to be purchased by Level 3

The assets of bankrupt network services provider Genuity Inc., Woburn, Mass., which counts as its customers the Defense Department and state agencies, are being acquired by Level 3 Communications Inc., Broomfield, Colo., the companies announced last week.

Level 3 will pay approximately $242 million for the assets of the company, which filed for bankruptcy to facilitate the sale. The deal was announced Nov. 27.

Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, Level 3 will operate Genuity as a separate business unit, while taking on some of the customers of its Tier 1 network service. On Dec. 2., the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved orders that will allow Genuity to conduct business "as usual" for all its customers, employees and suppliers.

Employing 4,500 people, Level 3 is an international communications and information services company that owns more than 20,000 miles of broadband fiber optic cable. In July 2002, investor Warren Buffet invested $100 million into Level 3. In January, the company leased 20 fibers to Washington for the city to make its own network among government buildings.

Genuity's government customers included the Air Force, Army, Navy, the Department of Energy and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Registry of Motor Vehicles.