Nokia has finally completed the sale of the bulk of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft, with a few changes that the Finnish vendor said would add to the final price it will receive.
Adjustments made for net working capital and cash earnings meant the total transaction price will be “slightly higher” than the previously announced price of €5.44 billion, said Nokia.
Today’s (25 April) closing date for the sale was set earlier in the week.
Meanwhile the remaining part of Nokia has plans of its own. More will likely be known when it unveils a CEO, thought to happen next Tuesday (29 April), according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Frontrunner Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia Solutions and Networks, will be unveiled as the new boss as Nokia announces its first-quarter results and the size of its shareholder payout resulting from the Microsoft deal, said the report.
Although with no material impact on the deal, two manufacturing facilities slated for inclusion are not now part of the deal, Nokia added.
The vendor was fighting to include an Indian plant but confirmed it is subject to an asset freeze by the Indian tax authorities. The plant will remain part of Nokia following the closing of the transaction.
Under a service agreement, Nokia will produce phones at the Chennai facility for Microsoft.
And the companies have excluded a Korean plant from the deal, thought to be for capacity reasons. As earlier reported, the plant will close with the loss of 200 posts.
Looking forward, Stephen Elop, executive vice president of the Microsoft Devices Group, issued a statement in which he talked up the future for the devices business as part of Microsoft.
He pointed to the “strong momentum” for Nokia Lumia smartphones. In addition, he said Microsoft was committed to supporting Nokia’s Asha feature phones, as well as the X family of devices – entry-level smartphones based on a variant of Android – announced at Mobile World Congress.
Comments