By DPA,
Helsinki : Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia announced Tuesday its aim to acquire 100 percent ownership of British software company Symbian, making a cash offer of some 264 million euros ($400 million) for the remaining 52 percent of the company.
Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile phone maker, already owns 48 percent of Symbian and would buy the stakes held in the company from Sony Ericsson, Panasonic, Siemens and Samsung.
In completing the transaction, Nokia plans to establish the Symbian Foundation which would be operated with several mobile companies and mobile network operators.
These partners would include AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone, the Finnish company said.
Symbian develops and licenses its Symbian OS, the open operating system used in so-called Smartphones, a rapidly-growing market segment.
The London-based Symbian was set up in 1998 and now has operations in Britain, the United States and Asia.