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HELSINKI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The intentions of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent to merge were confirmed by the two companies on Wednesday.
The companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding under which Nokia will make an offer for all of the equity securities issued by Alcatel-Lucent, through a public exchange offer in France and in the United States, on the basis of 0.55 of a new Nokia share for every Alcatel-Lucent share, according to a Nokia press release.
The all-share transaction values Alcatel-Lucent at 15.6 billion euros (16.5 billion U.S. dollars) on a fully diluted basis. Each company's Board of Directors has approved the terms of the proposed transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2016.
Alcatel-Lucent said the combined company will create a foundation "essential for enabling the next wave of technological change." The combined company will possess Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs and Nokia's FutureWorks, as well as Nokia Technologies.
