Shares of Nokia (NYSE:NOK) are higher this morning after a deal to sell substantially all of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) received regulatory approval in China according to theflyonthwall.com. Nokia won approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce, the country’s competition authority, to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft for EUR5.4B, or about $7.4B. In addition to China, Nokia and Microsoft have now received regulatory approvals from the U.S. Department of Justice, the European Commission and numerous other jurisdictions. Nokia and Microsoft believe the transaction will close this month.
Nokia said in a statement that that several competition authorities around the world reviewed Nokia’s patent licensing practices in the regulatory approval process. The company said “no authority” challenged Nokia’s compliance with its fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory, or FRAND, undertakings related to standard-essential patents or requested that Nokia make changes to its licensing program or royalty terms. The closing of the transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Nokia shares trading in New York advanced 39c, or 5.4%, to $7.61 in late-morning trading, while Microsoft was nearly flat at $39.72.
Analysts have a consensus price target of $12.33 on Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) which indicates a 70% upside. The consensus rating of the stock is a HOLD with a score of 2.26. There are currently 16 Hold Ratings, 6 sell ratings and 16 Buy ratings on the stock.
The most recent analyst action consisted of Credit Suisse reiterating their Outperform rating on the stock on March 11th, 2014.
Suggested Reading: Most Expensive Holiday Destinations
