Boston, MA 04/11/2014 (wallstreetpr) – The long wait is finally over; Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) can finally heave a sigh of relief after its merger agreement with Microsoft was given the green light by Chinese Authorities. The transaction was overdue as it was supposed to be finalized by the end of March. The delay was necessitated by a string of regulatory and legal obstacles from antitrust authorities in Asia.
Chinese Handset Makers Opposed to the Merger
The deal has now been fast tracked and expected to close by the end of this month having received approval from the European Commission and the department of Justice in the U.S. Chinese authorities took over 3O days to finally agree to the merger after receiving complaints from Chinese handset makers such as Lenovo, ZTE and Xiaomi.
Chinese handset makers were opposed to the merger as they continue to fear that Nokia may result to charging high patent fees for their patents. This is one of the strategies that Nokia may opt to use, as a way of mitigating losses in its business segment.
Nokia Patent Practices Examined
Chinese authorities took longer than expected to approve the merger as they tried to asses Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)’s Patent licensing practices, with a view of trying to see if they could affect other companies in the industry. Nokia is still facing a mounting task with India authorities related to taxes that the company is accused of not paying. The company has already been charged 300 million Euros in sales tax bill for selling its handsets in the country instead of exporting them.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) had acquired Nokia for $7.2 billion last year awaiting regulatory approvals. Microsoft plans to cash on Nokia’s lucrative phone business that is being led by the popular Lumia Line of smartphones.
Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) slumped in Thursday trading session by highs of 2.18% to close the day at a low of $7.64.
