Nokia Siemens Networks may sell as much as $1 billion in bonds to strengthen its balance sheet, according to multiple reports.
The reports, from Bloomberg and the Financial Times, cited unidentified sources and said that the sale could happen soon and that it could be used to gauge market interest in the company. The vendor's board still needs to approve the sale of the debt, Bloomberg noted. While the FT said the sale could fetch around $930 million, Bloomberg put the figure closer to $1 billion.
Nokia Siemens declined to comment, according to Bloomberg.
The vendor, still jointly owned by Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Siemens, has seen its results improve recently. Nokia Siemens was buoyed in the third quarter by a strong performance from the Asia-Pacific region en route to a record profit. However, sales in North America slumped 6 percent.
Additionally, Nokia revealed earlier this month that Nokia Siemens exceeded expectations for the fourth quarter, delivering record underlying profits and a third consecutive quarter of underlying profitability. The vendor benefited from a strong performance in higher margin product categories and geographic regions and better-than-expected cost management. Nokia and NSN will report full fourth-quarter results Jan. 24.
Nokia Siemens has been undergoing a major restructuring since late 2011 as it focuses on mobile broadband. The firm has been shedding units and cutting 17,000 jobs in order to save $1.34 billion by the end of 2013. Nokia and Siemens each contributed around $668 million to NSN in September 2011, and NSN has said it does not expect any more cash injections form the parent companies.
For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this FT article (sub. req.)
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