Nokia gains control of Alcatel-Lucent
Nokia Corp. has secured the authorization from France’s securities watchdog for its 15.6 billion euro takeover offer for Alcatel-Lucent SA, clearing the way for the integration of the two telecom-equipment suppliers.
Nokia said that the French stock market authority has declared the offer successful, with interim results showing that Nokia would hold around 79pc of Alcatel shares.
“The two companies will begin to progress their integration plans, with the first day as an operationally combined group on January 14, 2016,” Nokia said in a statement.
Nokia’s acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent announced in mid-April aims to position the company to better compete with market leader Ericsson and low-cost Chinese powerhouse Huawei, by forging a strong number two in mobile with a more complete product line.
With about 114,000 employees and sales of around €26bn, the combined company will rank a strong second in mobile equipment, with global market share of 35pc, behind Ericsson at 40pc and ahead of Huawei’s 20pc, according to Bernstein Research cited by Reuters in April.
The new Nokia will have stronger exposure to the important North American market, with major AT&T and Verizon contracts.
It will also fill gaps in its product portfolio with Alcatel-Lucent’s technology in optical transmission and Internet routers, which help telecom operators handle the ever-increasing volume of data brought on by users surfing the web on their smartphones and watching Netflix at home.
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications and information technology company, founded in 1865. Nokia is headquartered in Espoo, Uusimaa, in the greater Helsinki metropolitan area.
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. is a French global telecommunications equipmentcompany, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt. The company focuses on fixed, mobile, and converged networking hardware, IP technologies, software and services, with operations in more than 130 countries.
