As the acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft nears by the end of April, a letter was leaked to a few media outlets, disclosing two important issues in the coming acquisition -- that is, if we believe the so-called leaked document. The letter was sent to the business suppliers base of Nokia in Finland.
One is the renaming of Nokia Oyj to Microsoft Mobile Oy. In the Finnish language, Oy means "corporation" while Oyj is an abbreviation of "public stock company." Microsoft Mobile Oy will soon be a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, as well as its devices arm.
"Under the terms of the sale, Microsoft will assume all rights, benefits and obligations of the Nokia Devices and Services business, including Nokia's agreements with suppliers, customers and partners which pertain to the Devices and Services business," the leaked letter allegedly said.
Suppliers are fortunate, for the present terms and conditions it has with the Devices and Services business will remain as is even after the new deal. That said, however, the letter stated that VAT IDs and invoices will also use the new legal entity name, Microsoft Mobile Oy.
Another point in the letter is the proposition to keep Nokia's supplier base intact even for the new company, for the continuing businesses of HERE, NSN or Advanced Technologies. Recall that news came out before that HERE division will produce all future hardware of Nokia such as the Nokia smart watch.
Based on previous reports, Microsoft made an announcement in September 2013 that it intends to acquire the handset division and license several patents from Nokia. Microsoft expected to close the deal with Nokia at $7.2 billion in the first quarter of the year, until its delay because of the recent anti-trust reviews in Asia of the ongoing deal.
The upcoming closure deal is expected to move about 32,000 people to Microsoft, of which 18,300 personnel come from the assembly, manufacturing and packing division and 4,700 people will come from Finland. The said acquisition deal also cost Microsoft 5.4 billion euros. Apart from the Devices and Services as well as phone units and licenses, Microsoft will also purchase the Asha and Lumia brands in the future.
Even with the acquisition, the Nokia brand will remain owned and managed by Nokia. It will also retain its patent portfolio and will grant a 10-year license to its patents to Microsoft. On the other hand, Microsoft will grant Nokia the rights to use patents of Microsoft in its HERE services.
The leaked letter also said the new address of the renamed company will be a Keilaranta 7, 02150 ESPOO.
There may be a renaming after the deal gets to its closure, but reports say Nokia is a brand that is leaving a good and solid reputation, especially in developing nations such as India and regions such as Latin America. Analysts say re-branding could lose this impression.
