Nokia wants to renegotiate Moto deal
Nokia Siemens Networks is seeking to renegotiate its $1.2 billion purchase of wireless network assets from Motorola Solutions Inc., according to two people close to the situation.
The network-equipment joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG wants to exclude the Global System for Mobile communications, or GSM, unit from the acquisition and renegotiate the price accordingly in order to win antitrust approval by the Chinese government, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
The Espoo, Finland-based company said March 9 that the deal won't close in the first quarter, resulting in the second delay in three months. Motorola Solutions said the Chinese government extended its review period for another 60 days. The purchase, announced in July when the two companies targeted a year-end close, won approval of the U.S. and European Union regulators.
Ben Roome, a spokesman for Nokia Siemens Networks, declined to comment. Schaumburg-based Motorola Solutions' spokesman Nick Sweers couldn't be reached after office hours.
The purchase is aimed at buttressing Nokia Siemens' position as the world's second-largest maker of wireless network equipment, competing with Stockholm-based market leader Ericsson AB, China's Huawei Technologies Co. and Paris-based Alcatel- Lucent SA. It would bring more than 50 accounts at existing or new customers, significantly expanding its reach in the U.S. and Japan, Nokia Siemens said when it announced the deal.
The Chinese antitrust review comes after Huawei, China's biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, sued Motorola and Nokia Siemens Jan. 24 saying Motorola hadn't provided assurances that it would prevent disclosures about Huawei technology and products to Nokia Siemens.
Motorola has sold Huawei's wireless- network products under the Motorola name since 2000.
Last month, Huawei had to withdraw its purchase of Santa Clara, California-based 3Leaf Systems' patents, in compliance with a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States due to concerns for national security.