Nokia’s acquisition of Infinera approved by FTC

Taipei, Feb. 13 (CNA) Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Thursday it has given approval for Nokia Corp. of Finland to acquire the California-based Infinera Corp.

While it is an extraterritorial merger, it required FTC approval because the two companies have subsidiaries in Taiwan, the FTC added.

The merger would not restrict competition or create market entry barriers, as there are other competitive businesses, while downstream trade partners such as telecommunications and cable television operators hold considerable bargaining power, the FTC said in a press release.

The two companies are important participants in the optical transmission equipment market, posing horizontal competition to each other, the FTC said.

However, they are each focused on different aspects of technology and product applications, with little overlap in their main customer base and operation regions, it said.

As the optical transmission equipment industry rapidly advances, the merger of Nokia and Infinera would speed up product development and innovation, creating economic benefits that would outweigh any disadvantages that may arise from the reduced competition, the FTC said.

The Finnish company Nokia is seeking to acquire 100 percent of Infinera’s market shares and control of the California-based company’s business operations and personnel, which is defined as a merger, the FTC said, citing Article 10 of Taiwan’s Fair Trade Act.

In June 2024, Nokia announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Infinera for US$2.3 billion and said the deal was expected to close in the first half of this year.

(By Pan Tzu-yu and Wu Kuan-hsien)

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