Finnish vendor Nokia is reportedly considering an acquisition of US telecoms equipment maker Juniper Networks to gain scale for its NSN subsidiary.
NSN’s CEO discussed a possible merger late last year with Juniper, which already shares a commercial…
Finnish vendor Nokia is reportedly considering an acquisition of US telecoms equipment maker Juniper Networks to gain scale for its NSN subsidiary.
NSN’s CEO discussed a possible merger late last year with Juniper, which already shares a commercial partnership with it, reported Germany’s Manager Magazin citing sources.
The report stated that NSN CEO Rajeev Suri travelled to the US in late 2013 to meet with Juniper’s management.
The talks come as Nokia’s €5.4bn (US$7.4bn) sale of its main handset unit nears closure, leaving NSN as its main business. It also follows the group buying out its NSN joint venture partner, Germany’s Siemens, last year.
According to Manager Magazin, a deal could see Nokia using Juniper’s US$3.1bn cash to help finance a deal for the US group, which has a market value of US$13.7bn.
Following closure of the sale of its handset business, Nokia will have around €7.5bn in cash reserves, which could be used towards acquiring Juniper.
Nokia and Juniper declined to comment.
Juniper appointed Shaygan Kheradpir, a former Barclays COO and CTO, as CEO at the start of 2014, replacing retiring Kevin Johnson.
Nokia has also faced rumours that it could buy its struggling French rival Alcatel Lucent, although a Wall Street Journal report citing sources late last year claimed the group had ruled out the move.
