The French stock market authority, Autorité des Marchés Financiers, declared the offer successful, with interim results indicating that Nokia would own approximately 79% of Alcatel shares. The two companies will combine on January 14.
"We are delighted that the offer has been successful, and that Alcatel-Lucent's investors share our confidence in the future of the combined company,” said Rajeev Suri, president and CEO of Nokia.
“We will move quickly to combine the two companies and execute our integration plans. As of January 14, 2016, Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent will offer a combined end-to-end portfolio of the scope and scale to meet the needs of our global customers. We will have unparalleled R&D and innovation capabilities, which we will use to lead the world in creating next-generation technology and services."
Nokia first announced its proposed acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent in an all-stock deal in April 2015. The move enables it to better compete with Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Huawei.
Upon completion of the deal, Nokia plans to execute a €7 billion to optimise its capital structure and return excess capital to Nokia shareholders. The programme is expected to include approximately €4 billion in distribution to Nokia shareholders. Nokia has no plans to provide capital returns to remaining holders of Alcatel-Lucent securities.
