Lucent Technologies beat rival Ericsson in an auction to purchase the assets of equipment vendor Riverstone Networks.

Lucent’s final bid was $207 million in cash, a nearly 22% premium over the initial offer of $170 million it made in February. Other modifications were made to the terms of Lucent’s original offer, but they were not immediately available.

Ericsson submitted a late bid of $178 million in cash for Riverstone last week.

As of December 24, 2005, Riverstone had more than $98 million in total assets and more than $130 million in liabilities. At that time, the company also had cash, cash equivalents and investments totaling nearly $102 million. Lucent’s original offer did not include Riverstone’s cash or its debt. Riverstone intended to use its cash to pay down its nearly $66 million in debt and distribute the remaining cash to shareholders.

The deal is subject to approval by a federal bankruptcy court, which is scheduled for Thursday, March 23.

Lucent expects the acquisition of Riverstone to close in early April.