Nokia Siemens Networks said that it is waiting for antitrust approval from Chinese authorities for its planned U.S. $1.2 billion purchase of network assets from Motorola. The deal will likely close in the first quarter. The company had hoped to close on the deal by year-end 2010.
The acquisition has already been approved by U.S. and European Union regulators. However, NSN must also get approval from the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce of China, which is currently reviewing the deal.
In July NSN agreed to buy Motorola's wireless networks business for $1.2 billion, a move that is expected to strengthen NSN's position in North America and Japan.
Under the transaction, Motorola will retain control of its iDEN networks business, as well as substantially all the patents related to its network infrastructure business. Around 7,500 employees are expected to be transferred from Motorola to Nokia Siemens when the deal closes.
The deal is considered a win for NSN, which lost out last year in a bidding war with larger rival Ericsson for bankrupt Nortel Networks' main wireless assets. Ericsson won Nortel's CDMA and LTE assets for $1.13 billion. Although Motorola's networking unit makes mainly older equipment, Nokia Siemens stands to gain if some of Motorola's current customers decide to upgrade to new equipment.
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