Struggling Nokia to sell head office building for 170 mn euro
Finnish handset maker Nokia today said it will sell its head office building in Espoo to real estate investment firm Exilion for 170 million euros (over Rs 1,218 crore) as the struggling cellphone maker continues to cut costs.
"Nokia has agreed to sell and lease back its head office building in Espoo on a long-term lease to Finland-based Exilion. The selling price is EUR 170 million," Nokia said in a statement.
The sale is expected to be completed by the end of this year, it added.
"As we have said before, owning real estate is not part of Nokia's core business and when good opportunities arise we are willing to exit these types of non-core assets," Nokia CFO Timo Ihamuotila said.
Nokia has been operating in the building since 1997. The 48,000 sq mt building, designed by architect Pekka Helin, is located in Keilaniemi, Espoo, Finland.
"We had a comprehensive sales process with both Finnish and foreign investors and we are very pleased with this outcome. We are naturally continuing to operate in our head office building on a long-term basis," Ihamuotila added.
The Finnish company has been witnessing tough competition from rivals Samsung and Apple in the smartphone category.
It lost its leadership position to Samsung but has been aggressively launching a slew of products based on Microsoft's Windows platform along with other operating systems like Belle.
As part of the restructuring process, Nokia had earlier this year announced closure of its facilities in Ulm (Germany) and Burnaby (Canada). It also sold its luxury brand Vertu
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