The Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia will merge with the Franco-American Alcatel-Lucent as part of a deal aimed at creating large European company able to compete with the Swedish giant Ericsson and the Chinese competition.
The operation, formalized on Wednesday 12:0 am after the announcement of negotiations for a merger, should give birth to a giant, with turnover of about 27 billion euros just in infrastructure.
The agreement will allow Nokia-refocused on this area since the sale in April 2014 from their phones and tablets to u.s.-based Microsoft-grow in relation to its big Swedish rival Ericsson, Huawei, Chinese and who seeks to enter the West.
The agreement between the two former stars of new technologies lifted the illusion of a marriage between equals, dedicating the absorption of Alcatel. The old French industrial leader had been suffering hard hits in years, owing to the failure of his Union with the American Lucent.
The operation will be carried out in the context of a public offering of stock exchange in the first half of 2016, valuing the Alcatel-Lucent in 15.6 billion euros. In the end, Nokia's shareholders will own two-thirds of the capital. The new group takes its name from Nokia Corporation, will have headquarters in Finland and will be headed by the current owners of the Nordic company: Risto Siilasma, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Rajeev Suri, the Director-General.
Representatives from Alcatel-Lucent will have three seats to nine and ten on the Board of Directors, including the Vice Presidency. Discussions about a possible merger began in 2013, Suri reported on Wednesday.
The operation caused the shares of Nokia rose in Helsinki, but was very badly received on the Paris stock exchange, where the titles of the Alcatel-Lucent fell more than 15%. Several compensation granted by the Finnish buyer allowed to ensure the French Socialist government approval for the deal. The case was followed closely in Paris, where President Francois Hollande received last Tuesday the leaders of both groups.
Breaking with the "economic patriotism" professed by its predecessor Arnaud Montebourg, the French economy Minister, Emmanuel Macron, stressed after the meeting that the merger would create "any destruction of jobs in France."
' The France does not lose Alcatel '
"We had all the commitments on the part of Nokia," said Macron, praising the birth of "a great European champion, both of equipment as fixed and mobile technology". "This is the opposite of a weakening France's industrial", said on Wednesday the Executive spokesperson, Stéphane Le Foll, arguing that "the objective of the Government is to maintain employment and scientific research in France".
"France does not lose the Alcatel (...) If there wasn't this Union, maybe someday the Alcatel didn't have more size to face the international market, "added another Socialist government official, the Secretary of State Jean-Marie Le Guen.
The CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Michel Combes, said he was "convinced" of the "strategic interest of this project". Nokia Corporation wants to make savings of 900 million until 2019 without removing additional jobs at the end of the restructuring of the French group.
Alcatel-Lucent had planned 10,000 job cuts between 2013-2015, including 600 in France. The group currently has 53,000 employees worldwide, including 8,000 in France, while the Nokia employs 61,650 people. Second Combes, Nokia will hire 500 more researchers "" in France to "invest in 5 g", the new generation of telephony. "This is the first time that Alcatel-Lucent back hiring in the sector of research and development in France," he insisted.
Alcatel has suffered hard knocks after their unsuccessful merger with Lucent in 2006, which has since resulted in losses, with the exception of 2011. Its absorption by Nokia expands the list of French groups that passed into foreign control in recent years, such as Club Med, emblem of French tourism became Chinese, or Alstom industrial, which sold its energy operations to General Electric
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