Nokia to acquire Navteq

Nokia and digital map provider Navteq announced a definitive agreement for Nokia to acquire Navteq. Under the terms of the agreement, Nokia will pay $78 in cash for each share of Navteq, including outstanding options for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $8.1 billion, or approximately $7.7 billion net of Navteq existing cash balance.

The acquisition, which has already been approved by the boards of directors of each company, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008. Nokia plans to finance the acquisition with a combination of cash and debt, and has secured a commitment on the debt.

After completion of the transaction, Navteq's current map data business will continue to operate independently, but organizationally it will be a Nokia Group company.

Chicago-based Navteq was founded in 1985, generated 2006 revenues of $582 million and has approximately 3,000 employees located in 168 offices in 30 countries. Finland-based Nokia is the world's largest mobile device manufacturer with a user base of more than 900 million. According to today’s announcement, Nokia is expanding its offering to include areas such as entertainment, communities and location-based services.