Nokia and Siemens in $31.6 billion Merger
European telecom giants Nokia(NYSE:NOK) and Siemens(NYSE:SI) have planned a merger to create a new company evenly owned by the companies. The board of the new company will be controlled by Nokia, most likely by the majority of Nokia’s board and some of Siemens’ board. The reason for the merger has been credited to research and developement. The two companies recognized that they are repeated a huge amount of the same R&D. The research savings from this merger is estimated to be above $1.5 billion per year. The merger will also help the companies compete with the recent merger between Alcatel(NYSE:ALA) and Lucent(NYSE:LU). Nokia also has large cash reserves that may lead to future acquisitions, or other changes in control of companies.