Reuters: Technology News: Fitch may upgrade Nokia debt rating after Microsoft deal

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Fitch may upgrade Nokia debt rating after Microsoft deal Sep 4th 2013, 11:27 Tweet Share this Email Print The flagship store of Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is pictured in Helsinki September 7, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Sari Gustafsson/Lehtikuva HELSINKI | Wed Sep 4, 2013 7:27am EDT HELSINKI (Reuters) - Credit rating agency Fitch said it may upgrade Nokia's speculative-grade debt rating after the company announced the sale of its handset business to Microsoft. Fitch Ratings said it placed Nokia's senior unsecured ratings of "BB-" on "Ratings Watch Positive" because of an expected improvement in its finances following the 5.4 billion euro ($7.2 billion) deal announced on Tuesday. Nokia has been struggling to reverse a decline in its cash position and fall in market share. In August, Fitch reaffirmed its "BB-" rating but said its long-term issuer default rating was negative, citing a lack of visibility in the devices and services (D&S) business. "The sale of the D&S business brings to a close a period of extreme stress in the credit profile of the handset industry's former leading manufacturer," Fitch said in a statement. Fitch said Nokia's remaining operations, including Nokia Solutions & Networks, a previous venture with Siemens which it bought out in early July, as well as a patent portfolio and navigation business, would hold strong capital and a significant net cash position. The agency said a closure of the Microsoft deal would likely lead, at a minimum, to an affirmation of the current ratings at "BB-" with a stable outlook or a potential one-notch upgrade. One notch up from "BB-" would be "BB", still speculative grade. ($1 = 0.7601 euros) (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Louise Heavens) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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