The U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware authorized the deal, under which Cable & Wireless, London, would acquire substantially all of the hosting provider's U.S. customer contracts as well as about 30 Exodus data centers, its intellectual property and its employee base.

Cable & Wireless is still in discussions with Santa Clara, Calif.-based Exodus to purchase data centers in London, Frankfurt and Tokyo, according to a company statement.

The deal, valued at about $850 million when it was unveiled in November, should close later this month or in early February, Cable & Wireless said.

Exodus voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 26.