Daily Management Review

Nokia Reports Concerns Over Alcatel-Lucent Compliance To US SEC


03/22/2019




Nokia Reports Concerns Over Alcatel-Lucent Compliance To US SEC
Following the reporting of potential issues of compliance to the US authorities in relation to its acquisition of its former French rival Alcatel-Lucent, the Finnish network equipment maker Nokia said that it was examining some of the transactions at Alcatel-Lucent, which had been acquired by Nokia in 2016.
 
This resulted in a drop of 8 per cent in the shares of the company on Friday.
 
Shares were down 8.2 per cent in mid-morning trading, on track for worst day since October 2017 and bottom of the pan-European STOXX 600 index.
 
“The last night comment on possible fines stemming from business transactions of Alcatel-Lucent is hurting the stock, the market is really sensitive about Nokia these days,” said Kimmo Stenvall, analyst at OP Markets.
 
Some serious concerns during the integration process of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent had cropped up with relation to practices relating to compliance issues at the former Alcatel-Lucent business. Nokia said.
 
“To ensure complete compliance we are now scrutinizing certain transactions in the former Alcatel-Lucent business and although this investigation is in a relatively early stage, out of an abundance of caution and in the spirit of transparency, Nokia has contacted the relevant regulatory authorities regarding this review,” Nokia said in an emailed statement to the media.
 
The relevant authorities had been informed of the concerns over the transactions voluntarily by Nokia, the Finnish company said and added that it was cooperating with the US and other relevant authorities to solve the issue.
 
“The resolution of this matter could result in potential criminal or civil penalties, including the possibility of monetary fines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, brand, reputation or financial position,” it said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
There were no comments available in the media from the SEC over the issue.
 
(Source:wwwirishtimes.com)