Nokia has completed a EUR 500 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The five-year loan will be used to part-finance software research and development (R&D) projects Nokia is undertaking during 2009-2011 to make Symbian-based smartphones more competitive.
Nokia envisages that the R&D activities supported by this loan will also benefit the work of the Symbian Foundation and its development of open-source software for mobile devices.The Symbian Foundation is an independent, non-profit entity being set up by Nokia and its industry partners to develop a unified software platform with a single user interface framework. As previously communicated, the foundation is expected to start operations before the end of the first half 2009.
The agreement with the EIB follows Nokia�s successful launch last month of its inaugural Euro Bond transaction. The EUR 1.75 billion issue was extremely well received by a diverse and high quality investor base, leading to competitive borrowing costs. The proceeds of the bond issuance are being used to repay existing short-term borrowings, further strengthening Nokia�s financial flexibility.
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