Nokia will not pursue acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent: Report

Nokia will not pursue an acquisition of parts of Alcatel-Lucent after weighing various options related to the French telecoms gear company's business divisions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

In September Reuters cited several sources saying that Nokia was holding internal talks on whether to approach Alcatel-Lucent about a tie-up as part of the Finnish company's strategic review in light of the planned sale of its handset business to Microsoft.

After considering whether Alcatel's IP-routing and wireless divisions would complement its NSN telecoms equipment business, Nokia has decided not to pursue formal talks at this time, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Tuesday.

Formal meetings between the companies never took place, the paper added, citing people familiar with Nokia's plans.

Both Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia declined to comment.

NSN Chief Executive Rajeev Suri told Reuters last week that while he would not rule out acquisitions, the company did not have to "do deals for the sake of deals".

He also said he was in favour of a "just wait" strategy of letting market forces take out weaker rivals rather than doing a deal.

© Thomson Reuters 2013