The Finnish giant has completed a deal to sell its Vertu division, specializing in the creation of luxury phones, to the private investment fund EQT VI.
According to the agreement, 90% of the division was transferred to the fund. The 10% stake remained in Nokia’s hands. Approximately 1 thousand employees will transfer to work at EQT VI in connection with the deal originally announced back in June this year.
EQT VI, according to TechCrunch, will soon be headed by Anssi Vanjoki, a man who, before his scandalous departure from Nokia in 2010, was called the Stephen Jobs of the Finnish giant.
Given the difficult relationship between Vanyoki and the current head of Nokia, Stephen Ellop, because of whose appointment as executive director, Anssi, in fact, left the company two years ago, there is an opinion that there will be nothing in common between the future products of Vertu and Nokia.
Moreover, TechCrunch sources assure that Vertu devices will work on Android. If everything works out this way, Vertu will have a chance to become a leader in the market of luxury devices again.
The value of the transaction has not been announced, it is estimated by third-party analysts at 200 million euros.
Recall that the Vertu division was founded in 1997 to capture Nokia’s premium segment. Most of the devices of this brand were supplied with the stuffing of popular Nokia phones. Their differences from other phones of the company were reduced to a bright design and expensive materials of manufacture: gold, platinum, diamonds, etc.