Nokia and
NAVTEQ today announced that Nokia will acquire NAVTEQ, aChicago-based digitalmapping company that licenses content to
global positioning systems and Web sites.
"With NAVTEQ, Nokia will
further strengthen its location based services(LBS) offering and bringtomarket the most innovative, context aware Nokia Internet services with
accelerated time to market,"states Nokia's announcement.
GPS is important to mobile handsets The Gartner Group forecasts that GPS handsets will represent around 40% of sales in 2011, up from 13% in
2007.
Nokia has been offering more Internet devices and recently acquired mobile ad company EnPocket.
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 (EUR5.7 billion), or
approximately $7.7 billion (EUR5.4 billion) net of NAVTEQ existing cash
balance. The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of
each company and is subject to customary closing conditions including
regulatory approvals and NAVTEQ shareholders' approval.
The navigation area is a fast growing business, and with
location-based services expanding rapidly into mobile communications
devices, the industry is poised for even further growth. NAVTEQ brings
a number of key assets to Nokia: a great team with best-in-world maps
and navigation industry expertise, a strong customer base and an
industry-leading map data and technology platform with the broadest
geographical coverage.
NAVTEQ will continue to provide the most advanced and flexible map
data platform to navigation industry players. With NAVTEQ, Nokia will
further strengthen its location based services offering and bring to
market the most innovative, context aware Nokia Internet services with
accelerated time to market.
NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map
information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation
devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and
business solutions. NAVTEQ also owns Traffic.com, a web and interactive
service that provides traffic information and content to consumers. The
Chicago-based company was founded in 1985, generated 2006 revenues of
$582 million and has approximately 3,000 employees located in 168
offices in 30 countries.
Nokia is the world's largest mobile device manufacturer with more
than 900 million people using a Nokia mobile device around the world.
Driven by Internet and digital convergence, Nokia is expanding its
offering to include areas such as entertainment, communities and
location based services. Shipping with the GPS-enabled Nokia N95
multimedia computer, the Nokia Maps solution is one of the most
advanced location based services in the marketplace today.
"Location based services are one of the cornerstones of Nokia's
Internet services strategy. The acquisition of NAVTEQ is another step
toward Nokia becoming a leading player in this space," said Olli-Pekka
Kallasvuo, President and CEO, Nokia. "By joining forces with NAVTEQ, we
will be able to bring context and geographical information to a number
of our Internet services with accelerated time to market. We also look
forward to maintaining and enhancing the services and support provided
to NAVTEQ's existing and future customers".
"Nokia's unique vision for location based services aligns perfectly
with NAVTEQ's vision to enable everyone to find their way to people,
places and opportunities on mobile communications devices, cars,
desktop computers and in all the other places that are important to
them," said NAVTEQ President and CEO Judson Green. "It's really
exciting to imagine what we can achieve by combining our location
experience with the resources of a company that has a customer base of
more than 900 million people."
In commenting on the transaction, Christopher Galvin, Chairman of
the Board of NAVTEQ, said "Nokia's offer of $78 per share reflects a
very attractive valuation for NAVTEQ's stockholders, representing a 34%
premium to our stock price of one month ago. In considering the offer,
we approached other potential purchasers about their possible interest
in NAVTEQ and our Board took those contacts and discussions into
account in determining that Nokia's proposal was the best opportunity
available to maximize value for our stockholders."
After completion of the transaction, NAVTEQ's current map data
business will continue operationally independent, but organizationally
a Nokia Group company. Judson Green will report directly to Olli-Pekka
Kallasvuo. This will ensure that NAVTEQ's current and future customers
continue to have a dedicated and strengthened unit serving them as
before with digital map information for automotive navigation systems,
mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, as well
as government and business solutions.
The acquisition 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. Nokia anticipates that
the acquisition would not impact its share buy-backs under the current
mandate, or its future cash distribution strategy in terms of dividends
and share buybacks which is subject to the shareholders' approval. The
acquisition is expected to be dilutive to Nokia earnings in 2008 and
2009 on a reported basis. However on a cash basis Nokia expects it to
be only slightly dilutive in 2008 and slightly accretive in 2009.