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Russia’s antimonopoly service approves Microsoft’s Nokia purchase

MOSCOW, January 28. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has granted permission to Microsoft’s Finnish subsidiary, Microsoft Mobile Oy (Microsoft Mobile Ltd.) to purchase the Russian office of the Nokia mobile phone company. Earlier, the FAS approved of such a request from Microsoft International Holdings, the service said.

Acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone business by Microsoft Mobile Ltd, created in November 2013 for this particular purpose only, was announced in the autumn of 2013 and it is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. According to the deal, Microsoft will purchase Nokia’s production assets and patents portfolio for a total of €5.44 billion.

Following the sale of all the assets on mobile phones development and production, Nokia will focus on developing three core business units: its telecommunications equipment division Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN), its location-based Here mapping service, and on licensing its Advanced Technologies.