Finnish manufacturer Nokia continues to struggle in a spectacular post-Symbian fall from grace, and despite backing Microsoft’s all singing, all dancing Windows Phone. Go figure.
In an effort to scrape together some cash, Nokia will issue a batch of bonds this Friday, with an aggregate principal amount of €750 million.
The plan is detailed in full with a press release sensibly titled Nokia launches Convertible Bonds to raise approximately EUR 750 million (avert your eyes if you're in the US).
And what does Nokia plan to do with the €750 million? No prizes for guessing that the Finnish crew “intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to prudently manage its capital structure, proactively address upcoming debt maturities while preserving existing pools of liquidity and for general corporate purposes.” A tad verbose, but makes sense.
Nokia's Executive Vice President and CFO, Timo Ihamuotila, yelled: "This offering is designed to further strengthen our financial position and liquidity profile while allowing us to benefit from the current attractive long-term financing opportunities in the convertible bond market.”
Yep, attractive due to the terrible global economy and that.
Nokia has a lot riding on Windows Phone 8, which launches properly next Monday. The Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 will be released, er, presumably shortly afterwards.
