Finland's Nokia on Friday said it had completed the sale of its navigation business HERE to German carmakers BMW, Audi and Mercedes. Nokia said its net proceeds from the deal would be around €2.55 billion ($2.78 billion), in line with its original estimate. The deal was initially estimated to close in the first quarter of 2016, Reuters reports on Saturday. The company last year sold its once-dominant mobile phone business to Microsoft and following the maps deal, it is left with its mainstay telecom network equipment business and patents. Earlier this week, the company's shareholders approved an all-share acquisition of network rival Alcatel-Lucent for €15.6 billion, expected to close early next year. The troika of German carmakers have begun to work together to hold off against new automotive rivals like Uber and Tesla whose use of mapping technology may become a serious threat to their business strategy in the autonomous car future.
