NOKIA AND ALCATEL-LUCENT TO COMBINE TO CREATE AN INNOVATION LEADER IN NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES FOR AN IP CONNECTED WORLDNokia Corporation
Stock Exchange Release
April 15, 2015 at 08:00 (CET +1)
NOKIA AND ALCATEL-LUCENT TO COMBINE TO CREATE AN INNOVATION LEADER IN NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES FOR AN IP CONNECTED WORLD
Helsinki & Paris, April 15, 2015 - Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent announce today their intention to combine to create an innovation leader in next generation technology and services for an IP connected world. The two companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding under which Nokia will make an offer for all of the equity securities issued by Alcatel-Lucent, through a public exchange offer in France and in the United States, on the basis of 0.55 of a new Nokia share for every Alcatel-Lucent share. The all-share transaction values Alcatel-Lucent at EUR 15.6 billion on a fully diluted basis, corresponding to a fully diluted premium of 34% (equivalent to EUR 4.48 per share), and a premium to shareholders of 28% (equivalent to EUR 4.27 per share) (see Appendix 1), on the unaffected weighted average share price of Alcatel-Lucent for the previous three months. This is based on Nokias unaffected closing share price of EUR 7.77 on April 13, 2015.
Each companys Board of Directors has approved the terms of the proposed transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2016. The proposed transaction is subject to approval by Nokias shareholders, completion of relevant works council consultations, receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
Enabling the connected world
The combined company will be uniquely positioned to create the foundation of seamless connectivity for people and things wherever they are. This foundation is essential for enabling the next wave of technological change, including the Internet of Things and transition to the cloud.
The combined company will have unparalleled innovation capabilities, with Alcatel-Lucents Bell Labs and Nokias FutureWorks, as well as Nokia Technologies, which will stay as a separate entity with a clear focus on licensing and the incubation of new technologies.
With more than 40 000 R&D employees and spend of EUR 4.7 billion in R&D in 2014, the combined company will be in a position to accelerate development of future technologies including 5G, IP and software-defined networking, cloud, analytics as well as sensors and imaging.
Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia have highly complementary portfolios and geographies, with particular strength in the United States, China, Europe and Asia-Pacific. They will also bring together the best of fixed and mobile broadband, IP routing, core networks, cloud applications and services. This combination is expected to create access to an expanded addressable market with improved long term growth opportunities.
Consumers are looking to access data, voice and video across networks of all kinds. In this environment technology that used to operate independently now needs to work well together. That is not always the case today, but together Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent are uniquely suited to helping telecom operators, internet players and large enterprises address this challenge.
TRANSACTION HIGHLIGHTS
0.55 of a newly issued ordinary share of Nokia (subject to adjustments for any dividend other than the previously proposed Nokia dividend for 2014) would be offered in exchange for each ordinary share and each American Depositary Share of Alcatel-Lucent. An equivalent offer would be made for each outstanding class of Alcatel-Lucent convertible bonds: OCEANE 2018, OCEANE 2019 and OCEANE 2020
The offer values Alcatel-Lucent at EUR 15.6 billion on a fully diluted basis, after taking into account the early conversion and associated dilution of Alcatel-Lucents convertible bonds, corresponding to a fully diluted premium of 34% (equivalent to EUR 4.48 per share), and a premium to the shareholders of 28% (equivalent to EUR 4.27 per share), on the unaffected weighted average share price of Alcatel-Lucent for the previous three months. This is based on Nokias unaffected closing share price of EUR 7.77 on April 13, 2015
Alcatel-Lucent shareholders would own 33.5% of the fully diluted share capital of the combined company, and Nokia shareholders would own 66.5%, assuming full acceptance of the public exchange offer
The combined company will be called Nokia Corporation, with headquarters in Finland and a strong presence in France. Risto Siilasmaa is planned to serve as Chairman, and Rajeev Suri as Chief Executive Officer
The combined companys Board of Directors is planned to have nine or ten members, including three members from Alcatel-Lucent, one of whom would serve as Vice Chairman
Assuming the closing of the transaction in the first half of 2016:
The combined company would target approximately EUR 900 million of operating cost synergies to be achieved on a full year basis in 2019
The combined company would target approximately EUR 200 million of reductions in interest expenses to be achieved on a full year basis in 2017
The transaction is expected to be accretive to Nokia earnings on a non-IFRS basis (excluding restructuring charges and amortisation of intangibles) in 2017
A strong financial profile on which to grow and invest: on a FY2014 combined basis, the proposed company would have had net sales of EUR 25.9 billion, a non-IFRS operating profit of EUR 2.3 billion, a reported operating profit of EUR 0.3 billion, R&D investments of approximately EUR 4.7 billion, and a strong balance sheet with combined net cash at December 31, 2014 of EUR 7.4 billion, assuming conversion of all Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent convertible bonds (for basis of preparation see Appendix 2)
Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia, said:
Together,
