Nokia may have to raise price for Alcatel-Lucent, new bidders may emerge
Nokia, the Finnish mobile networks company, may have to raise its offer for the French telecom equipment company Alcatel-Lucent, according to Turun Sanomat. The Finnish-language paper cited Sami Sarkamies, an analyst from Nordea bank, who said that right now it is looking like many Alcatel-Lucent shareholders are disappointed with the offer on the table.
The deal is not due to be finalised until the autumn, he added, and said that it is hard to predict what will happen but that Nokia may have to raise the offer price. He also said that the sale may end up being an auction and that other bidders may emerge. However, there are only few possible bidders – Sweden's Ericsson is not likely to bid since it already has many similar operations to Alcatel-Lucent in the US, and China's Huawei would not please the Americans.
Korea's Samsung seems to be holding the key cards in this game, added Sarkamies, but did not elaborate any further.
Link to original source {http://www.ts.fi/}
Turun Sanomat