The Economy

Nokia Sale of Handset Business to Microsoft Delayed to April

March 24, 2014

Finnish telecom company Nokia says the sale of its handset business to U.S. technology giant Microsoft will be delayed by a few weeks while it awaits approval from antitrust authorities in Asia.

Agence France-Presse

HELSINKI -- Finnish telecom company Nokia today said the sale of its handset business to U.S. technology giant Microsoft would be delayed by a few weeks until April 2014.

Nokia (IW 1000/109) said that it continued to make progress with Microsoft (IW 500/16) in the closing conditions and the integration planning but was still waiting for the approval of "certain antitrust authorities in Asia which are still conducting their reviews."

The European Commission already approved the takeover of the mobile phone business in December, seeing "only modest overlaps" between the two companies.

Once the world leader in mobile phones, Nokia lost its top place to South Korea's Samsung (IW 1000/14) in 2012.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014

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