Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU) have announced plans to combine. The two companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding under which Nokia will make an offer for all of the equity securities issued by Alcatel-Lucent, through a public exchange offer in France and in the United States. The all-share transaction values Alcatel-Lucent at EUR 15.6 billion. The combined company will be called Nokia Corp., with headquarters in Finland and a strong presence in France.
Each company's board of directors has approved the terms of the proposed transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2016. The proposed transaction is subject to approval by Nokia's shareholders, completion of relevant works council consultations, receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
The combined company will have Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs and Nokia's FutureWorks, as well as Nokia Technologies, which will stay as a separate entity with a focus on licensing and the incubation of new technologies. The combined company is intended to accelerate development of 5G, IP and software-defined networking (SDN), cloud, analytics as well as sensors and imaging.
