Shortly after confirming the rumors of its talks with Alcatel-Lucent yesterday, Nokia has announced today that it does indeed intend to buy the French firm. The deal would combine both European companies' assets under the Nokia Corporation name, with headquarters in Helsinki and a strong presence in France. No cash transactions would be involved, instead the acquisition is a public exchange offer whereby 0.55 Nokia shares are offered for every Alcatel-Lucent share. The valued total amounts to 15,6 Billion Euros.

The merger has been approved by both companies' boards of directors and should be closed by 2016 if it gets the regulatory go-ahead. Once done, current Alcatel-Lucent shareholders would own 33.5% of the combined company and Nokia shareholders the remaining 66.5%. Nothing will change in the higher-up hierarchy: Nokia's Risto Siilasmaa should stay as Chairman and Rajeev Suri as Chief Executive Officer, but 3 slots on the board will be allotted to Alcatel-Lucent members with one serving as Vice Chairman.

Despite the fact that both companies' brands are more or less associated with mobile devices (and Android smartphones for our particular interest), the merger is primarily focused on networks, broadband, 5G technologies, Internet of Things, cloud services, and R&D innovations, areas in which Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent have complementary services and reach. For example, Nokia Networks' stronghold is in the European market while Alcatel-Lucent is a key supplier in the US for Verizon and AT&T.

The deal didn't mention anything related to Alcatel's licensed trademark for TCL Communication under which the latter has been releasing its OneTouch series of smartphones that we have covered on Android Police in the past. It's likely that the license will still be effective and we'll continue seeing devices under that brand.

In its press release, Nokia also announced that it is reviewing options for HERE, the location service that houses the beloved HERE Maps (for Android and other platforms) with its offline navigation and wider reach maps.

Nokia also announces today that it has initiated a review of strategic options for its HERE business. That review is ongoing, it may or may not lead to a transaction, and any further announcements about HERE will be made in due course, as appropriate.

That usually hints that Nokia wants to sell off HERE, and the rumors Bloomberg heard have suggested Uber and some german carmakers might be interested. I'll personally sit here and pray to the gods of GPS that Google puts a bid on the service and integrates its features with Google Maps. Shhhhhhhh, one can hope.

PRESS RELEASE

Source: Nokia 1, Nokia 2