BMW, Daimler, Audi Agree to Buy Nokia’s Here Maps Business

Audi, BMW and Daimler formed a consortium to buy the mapping unit from Nokia.

Nokia expects to book a gain on the sale and a related release of cumulative foreign exchange translation differences totaling approximately Euro one billion as a result of the transaction.

Nokia confirmed that the deal will close in the first quarter of next year and it will then hand the business over to AUDI AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG (Mercedes). We were well aware of the fact that Nokia was trying to wash its hands from HERE maps and was evaluating proposals from companies like Microsoft, but the choice of final buyers might surprise some people.

The new development comes a couple of months after the Finnish company started reviewing some strategic options to sell the mapping business in April.

Upon closing, Nokia estimates that it will receive net proceeds of slightly above $2.7 billion (EUR 2.5 billion).

They said, “For the automotive industry this is the basis for new assistance systems and ultimately fully autonomous driving”.

The auto makers will benefit from HERE’s high-definition real-time digital mapping technology with the ability to further their research on self-driving cars, and integrate connected services into their nect-generation vehicles.

Nokia Here, based in Berin, is a main provider of mapping services with data on almost 200 countries.

The carmakers said Here’s management will be independent and that the company will continue to make its maps available to all customers across industries.

HERE has a workforce of 6,454 employees which all likely to be transferred to the owner following the completion of the transaction. It provides makers of navigation devices and cars as well as websites and apps with the data.

If this latest bit is true, Nokia might soon finally be able to unburden itself of yet another business tangential to its new found focus in networking technology.