Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2012/06/13/nokia_still_seeking_buyer_for_vertu/
Nokia eyes private equity buyer for bling-phone firm
Vertu can be yours for €200m
Posted in Personal Tech, 13th June 2012 12:54 GMT
Private equity firm EQT appears to be back in the running as a potential buyer of Vertu, Nokia's wholly owned maker of bling-phones for the extremely well-heeled.
Newsagency Reuters today said sources familiar with the sale negotiations had claimed Nokia wants €200m ($251m/£161m) for Vertu and its currently trying to persuade EQT to come up with the cash.
That's the sum the Financial Times noted in April that Nokia wants for the subsidiary, which produces very luxurious but technologically unimpressive handsets for which it charges not merely an arm and a leg but most of the rest of your anatomy too.
However, the paper said at the time that Nokia was talking to Permira, another private equity company, discussions with EQT having proved fruitless.
EQT would seem to be back in the running, Permira having decided to back out, according to Reuters' mole. ®