Finnish telecommunication equipment giant Nokia Oyj yesterday announced a plan to complete the acquisition of its former rival, French-American Alcatel-Lucent SA, during the third quarter.
The world’s former top mobile phone maker had gained control of 80 percent of Alcatel-Lucent’s shares by January, but has struggled to mop up the remaining shareholders to gain full control of the company.
Nokia said it was settling the ownership issue “through privately negotiated transactions.”
“Nokia expects to cross 95 percent ownership thresholds in Alcatel-Lucent and announces [its] intention to file a public buyout offer in cash for the remaining Alcatel-Lucent securities followed by a squeeze-out,” the company said in a statement.
France’s stock market regulator would still have to approve the transaction, as its rules require Nokia to cross a 95 percent threshold to make a clean sweep by delisting all remaining shares from the Paris stock exchange.
“Following these transactions, Nokia will own 95.33 percent of the share capital and 95.26 percent of the voting rights of Alcatel-Lucent, corresponding to 95.16 percent of the Alcatel-Lucent shares,” Nokia said.
Nokia has just gone through two-and-half years of radical transformation. In 2013, it bought 50 percent of its network activities from Germany’s Siemens AG; in 2014, it divested its mobile phone business where it had been the world’s No. 1 brand; and last year ,it sold its mapping unit Here and took control of Alcatel-Lucent.
Last month, in its first earnings announcement since the Alcatel-Lucent deal, Nokia reported a first-quarter net loss of 513 million euros (US$583 million).
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