Nokia gains control of Alcatel-Lucent

The French stock market authority, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (the AMF), has published the interim results of the initial offer period of Nokia's public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities in France and in the United States and has declared the Offer successful. Rajeev Suri, President and CEO of Nokia, said: "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. 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." Following the announcement by the AMF of the final results of the Offer, the two companies will begin to progress their integration plans, with the first day as an operationally combined group on January 14, 2016.