Nokia In Talks To Acquire Alcatel-Lucent

Finland's Nokia is in advanced talks to acquire all of its Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent, an announcement made on Tuesday revealed.

The statement said the two companies were in “advanced discussions” on a “full combination, which would take the form of a public exchange offer by Nokia for Alcatel-Lucent.”

"There can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement or transaction," it added.

Nokia is valued at around €29bn, almost three times as much as Alcatel, which had a market capitalisation of €11bn based on Monday's closing share price.


The announcement came a day after reports that Nokia was in talks to acquire Alcatel-Lucent's wireless infrastructure.

Alcatel-Lucent has around 6,000 employees in France, out of a total of 52,000 worldwide. Nokia has almost 62,000 employees.

“The future of Alcatel-Lucent would be assured but our biggest fear is the future of our research and development in France, since it develops products in direct competition with Nokia,” he said.