Telecom network maker Nokia today said it holds nearly 80 percent stake in Alcatel-Lucent following the public exchange offer.

Early last year, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia announced its nearly $17 billion acquisition of rival Alcatel-Lucent. The company also announced a new management team in place after the completion of the public exchange offer.

The development will enable Nokia to officially add Alcatel-Lucent to its telecom network business and compete with Ericsson and Huawei in a better way.

“We will move quickly to combine the two companies and execute our integration plans,” said Rajeev Suri, president and CEO of Nokia.

Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent will start selling their joint products from January 14, 2016 to their global customers.

HIGHLIGHTS

# Nokia to hold 80% stake in Alcatel-Lucent
# January 14, 2016 will be the first day of integration

The two companies will begin to progress their integration plans. The first day of the combined group will be January 14, 2016.

Nokia said it plans to execute a EUR 7 billion program to optimize its capital structure and return excess capital to Nokia shareholders. This program will include approximately EUR 4 billion in distributions to Nokia shareholders. Nokia has no plans to provide capital returns to remaining holders of Alcatel-Lucent securities.

Baburajan K
[email protected]