NSN seeks €764m in private equity

Michael Carroll | August 02, 2010

telecomseurope.net

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Nokia Siemens Networks is discussing the sale of a minority stake to private investors to fund its $1.2 billion (€919 million) acquisition of Motorola’s network business.

The vendor hopes to raise $1 billion from the sale, but is also keen to leverage the experience of a successful private equity firm to integrate the Motorola division, into its own business, FT.com reports.

Several firms including Blackstone, TPG, Silver Lake Partners and Bain Capital are being courted, with a partnership between one or all of those firms the most likely means of raising the amount required, the news site said.

Talks to sell up to 33% to investors are still at a very early stage, but could ultimately help prepare the joint venture company for an IPO in the coming years, WSJ.com reported

Nokia Siemens said it would finance the purchase of Motorola’s GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, Wimax and LTE businesses itself, when it announced the deal last month. Parent firms Nokia and Siemens agreed to extend a €500 million shareholder loan towards the acquisition.

However, the joint venture is struggling to achieve profitability reporting a net loss of €179 million in the second quarter as revenues fell 5%.

Source:

Michael Carroll