Finnish state investment company Solidium bought a stake in Nokia, having sold-down its holding in Telia earlier this year.

Solidium acquired 3.3 per cent of Nokia for around €844 million, having made purchases on the open market since the start of the year. The infrastructure giant now represents around 11 per cent of the fund’s investments.

During February, the investment fund sold its 3.2 per cent stake in Telia for SEK5.1 billion ($620 million). It did not detail its motivation for this.

“The divestment of our stake in Telia in the beginning of the year made it possible for us to invest into Nokia, which fits perfectly into Solidium’s portfolio. The appealing factors for us are the company’s strong market position combined with broad technological expertise, which provides opportunities for value creation. In line with our mandate, we hereby strengthen and stabilise the domestic ownership in this nationally very important company”, said Antti Makinen, Solidium CEO.

According to Reuters, Makinen said Solidium will not seek a seat on the Nokia board at the next Annual General Meeting, but such a move may be an option in future.

Economic driver
Nokia has long been an important part of the Finnish economy, contributing a quarter of Finland’s growth from 1998 to 2007. It was also a significant contributor to the country’s research and development spending.

But as Nokia lost its leadership of the handset market, leading to the eventual sale of its Devices unit to Microsoft, there were significant losses and job cuts in the country – a pattern which continued under the US computing giant.

While the now infrastructure-focused Nokia is working in a tough market, and the job cuts have not stopped, the emergence of 5G in the near future is likely to create new opportunities.

Solidium also owns 10 per cent of operator Elisa and 10 per cent of IT services company Tieto, as part of a portfolio which includes investments across a number of sectors.