Following Monday’s $130bn deal between Vodafone and Verizon, yet another blockbuster telecoms transaction has emerged to keep M&A lawyers enthralled, with US firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett taking the lead in Microsoft’s $7bn acquisition of Nokia’s Devices & Services business along with a ten-year patent licensing agreement.
Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2014, Microsoft will acquire all of Nokia’s Devices & Services arm, including its mobile phones and smart devices business, which generated an estimated €14.9bn, or almost 50%, of Nokia’s net sales for the full year 2012. Around 32,000 staff are expected to transfer to Microsoft.
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