Nokia-Microsoft deal gets approval from China without any bearing on Licensing or royalty terms.

Nokia has announced in a press-release that the Nokia’s Devices and Service unit sale to Microsoft has been approved by Chinese authority. This approval was the major roadblock in deal-closure and Nokia has to extend its Q1 financial reporting to 29^th April, so that it can accommodate the financial impact of the deal in reporting. Nokia has also made it clear that the Chinese authority didn’t request it to make changes to its licensing program or royalty terms, which comes as a boost for investors.

Nokia announced that the planned transaction whereby Nokia plans to sell substantially all of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft has today received regulatory approval from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.

As previously communicated, the closing of the transaction, which was announced on September 3, 2013, is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Nokia and Microsoft have now received regulatory approvals from the People’s Republic of China, the European Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and numerous other jurisdictions. Nokia and Microsoft continue to expect the transaction to close during April 2014, as communicated in our press release from March 24, 2014.

The regulatory approval process has involved a thorough review of Nokia’s patent licensing practices by several competition authorities around the world. During that process, no authority has challenged Nokia’s compliance with its FRAND undertakings related to standard-essential patents (licensing on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms) or requested that Nokia make changes to its licensing program or royalty terms.

Thanks Tom for the tip. Cheers!!

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