HELSINKI: Finnish telecoms giant Nokia on Wednesday said it had finalised its acquisition of former French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent.

Nokia, the world’s number one mobile phone maker for more than a decade until 2012, had struck a deal to buy the other firm in April 2015 but has struggled to buy up the remaining shares to gain full control of the company.

By January it held a controlling interest of around 76 per cent, but a public exchange offer to buy the rest dragged on as small shareholders held out for a better price.

“The closing of the deal today, marked by the purchase of all outstanding Alcatel-Lucent shares, means Nokia will now start eliminating the complexity and costs of running two separate public companies,” Nokia said in a statement.

Nokia has been going through a process of radical transformation over the last few years.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2016