Off the wire
• China Voice: Tibet's development; a path of hope  • German men's soccer team win Laureus team award  • Top Russian officials declare annual income  • Urgent: Sudan elections commission extends polling for extra day  • Ning wins 2nd gold at China National Swimming  • Feature: Sierra Leone reopens schools as Ebola threat recedes  • Pakistan tests long-range nuclear-capable missile  • Roundup: Greece draws up crisis plan to address irregular migration  • Across China: Tibetan couple's wedding photos an Internet hit  • Roundup: Cuba welcomes Obama's decision to remove it from terror sponsors list  
You are here: 　 Home

Nokia to buy Alcatel-Lucent for 16.5 bln USD

Xinhua, April 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia said Wednesday that it will buy France's Alcatel-Lucent for 15.6 billion euros (16.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Under their agreement, every Alcatel-Lucent share will be converted into 0.55 of a new Nokia share, which means that Nokia will hold 66.5 percent of the combined company and its French rival will have the remaining 33.5 percent.

The new Nokia Corporation "will be in a position to accelerate development of future technologies including 5G, IP and software-defined networking, cloud, analytics as well as sensors and imaging," the two companies said in a joint statement.

"The combination is expected to create access to an expanded addressable market with improved long-term growth opportunities," the statement said.

Set to be concluded in the first half of 2016, the accord will help the two companies to report 900 million euros (954.6 million dollars) of operating cost savings by the end of 2019 and a 200-million-euro (212.1-million-dollar) cut in interest expenses by 2017.

Headquartered in Finland, Nokia pledged to maintain a strong presence in France and keep the jobs of 6,000 Alcatel-Lucent employees after the merger.

"A combination of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent will offer a unique opportunity to create a European champion and global leader in ultra-broadband, IP networking and cloud applications. ... This transaction comes at the right time to strengthen the European technology industry," said Michel Combes, Alcatel-Lucent's chief executive officer.

"We believe our customers will benefit from our improved innovation capability and incomparable R&D engine under the Bell Labs brand. The global scale and footprint of the new company will reinforce its presence in the United States and China," he said. Endi