Nokia has reached an agreement to sell its digital mapping and location services business Here to a consortium of carmarkers for an enterprise value of EUR 2.8 billion. Audi, BMW and Daimler will pay a net price of just over EUR 2.5 billion, after compensation for certain liabilities at Here, Nokia said. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.
Nokia first announced a strategic review at Here in April, when it agreed the merger with Alcatel-Lucent. After selling Here and its mobile phone business last year, Nokia will focus exclusively on the network equipment market, as well as its licensing business.
Here already serves much of the world's automakers with mapping services, as well as supplying many mobile phone operating systems, including Windows, Android and iOS. The company generated an adjusted operating profit of EUR 46 million on revenues of EUR 552 million in the first half of this year. It recorded an operating loss of EUR 1.241 billion in the period, after an impairment of EUR 1.209 billion to write off goodwill.
