The German competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, has announced it has approved the planned transaction in which Nokia would purchase Psion's shares in Symbian. According to the assessment of Bundeskartellamt, the transaction would not restrict effective competition on the wireless OS market.
The transaction is now moving to its final phase where other shareholders of Symbian can participate in the transaction by using their pre-emption rights. "We welcome other shareholders' participation. A crucial part of Symbian's staying power in the competitive mobile OS market will continue to be based on the multivendor ownership structure which includes key handset manufacturers," said Pertti Korhonen, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia.
"We are happy to say, based on our mutual discussions, that all shareholders have a strong and aligned commitment to ensure Symbian's future success and product competitiveness," he continued. According to the Symbian shareholder agreement, the pre-emption period is anticipated to be completed during the first half of July.
Nokia and Psion plc announced in February that they had started the process of enabling the transfer of Psion's shares in Symbian to Nokia. Bundeskartellamt's approval completes the formal clearance process of the transfer. The intended transaction has earlier been approved by Psion plc's shareholders and by the competition authorities in Austria and Finland.
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