Nokia Closer to Increasing Stake in Symbian

Nokia has now received final clearance for the proposed purchase of Psion's shares in Symbian. The possible transfer is widely seen as a move by Nokia to gain control of the Symbian platform.

Nokia and Psion announced in February that they had started the process of enabling the transfer of Psion's shares in Symbian to Nokia. The German competition authorities 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. 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.

Should the sale go through, Nokia's Symbian stake will increase to 46.7 percent from their current 32.2 percent. Under the Symbian shareholder agreement, stakeholders will have until mid-July to exercise their rights of first refusal.

According to the Register, Ericsson has called on the others to increase their stakes, with Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg saying that if Nokia gains more than 50 per cent, Symbian "becomes a Nokia platform. If that happens there will be a gradual deterioration in the view of Symbian".