A report from Bloomberg claims that Nokia may be in final stages of striking a deal with consortium of German car-makers for its HERE business. The reported deal value of $2.7 Billion is however low and bit doubtful as Uber had earlier valued the HERE business at $3 Billion and was refused by Nokia.
Nokia Oyj is nearing an agreement to sell its maps business to a group of German luxury-car makers including BMW AG, according to people familiar with the matter.
An agreement could be reached as early as next week, with an announcement targeted for around July 31, said the people, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. Talks could still fall apart as the consortium of BMW, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG and Audi AG hammers out final details such as intellectual property rights, the people said. The carmakers may pay Nokia about 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) for the unit, called HERE, Manager Magazin reported.
This brings us to the question whether Nokia is only selling a part of HERE to the Car-makers. Nokia CEO Suri has earlier made a statement that Nokia can sell HERE in part or full. So, it seems that Nokia may let Car Makers acquire majority stake or may sell only the connected-car business to them. Nokia may still keep a part of HERE either in form of a minority share or may decide to keep the HERE’s consumer & corporate business for itself.
