Nokia has completed a EUR 500 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The five-year loan will be used to part-finance software research and development (R&D) projects Nokia is undertaking during 2009-2011 to make Symbian-based smartphones more competitive.
Nokia envisages that the R&D activities supported by this loan will also benefit the work of the Symbian Foundation and its development of open-source software for mobile devices.The Symbian Foundation is an independent, non-profit entity being set up by Nokia and its industry partners to develop a unified software platform with a single user interface framework. As previously communicated, the foundation is expected to start operations before the end of the first half 2009.
The agreement with the EIB follows Nokia's successful launch last month of its inaugural Euro Bond transaction. The EUR 1.75 billion issue was extremely well received by a diverse and high quality investor base, leading to competitive borrowing costs. The proceeds of the bond issuance are being used to repay existing short-term borrowings, further strengthening Nokia's financial flexibility.