Nokia will own 95.33 per cent of the share capital and 95.26 per cent of the voting rights of Alcatel-Lucent.
Nokia will own 95.33 per cent of the share capital and 95.26 per cent of the voting rights of Alcatel-Lucent.
Helsinki
: Finnish telecom equipment giant Nokia announced Thursday a plan to complete the acquisition of its former rival, French-American Alcatel-Lucent during the third quarter.
The world's former top mobile phone maker had gained control of 80 per cent 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 Thursday it was settling the ownership issue -"through privately negotiated transactions-".
-"Nokia expects to cross 95 per cent ownership thresholds in Alcatel-Lucent and announces intention to file a public buy-out 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 will still have to approve the transaction, as its rules require Nokia to cross a 95-per cent threshold in order to make a clean sweep by delisting all remaining shares from the Paris stock exchange.
-"Following these transactions, Nokia will own 95.33 per cent of the share capital and 95.26 per cent of the voting rights of Alcatel-Lucent, corresponding to 95.16 per cent of the Alcatel-Lucent shares,-" Nokia concluded.
Nokia has just gone through two and half years of radical transformation. In 2013 it bought 50 per cent of its network activities from Germany's Siemens; in 2014 it divested its mobile phone business where it had been the world's number one brand; and in 2015 it sold its mapping unit Here and took control of Alcatel-Lucent.
But in its first earnings announcement since the Alcatel-Lucent deal, Nokia reported a first-quarter net loss of 513 million euros ($583 million) in May. Nokia's shareholders were to convene for the annual general assembly later on Thursday.
