Nokia to buy Navteq

Nokia Corp is buying US navigation-software maker Navteq Corp for around $8.1 billion, the world's largest mobile phone maker said on Monday.

The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies, according to Nokia.

Under the agreement, Nokia will pay $78 in cash for each Navteq share, including outstanding options.

Chicago-based Navteq maintains digital maps which it licenses to global positioning systems and Web sites. Founded in 1985, it has around 3,000 employees in 168 offices in 30 countries.

Nokia's President and Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said "location-based services are one of the cornerstones of Nokia's Internet services strategy. The acquisition of Navteq is another step toward Nokia becoming a leading player in this space."

Kallasvuo added that by acquiring Navteq, Nokia "will be able to bring context and geographical information to a number of our Internet services with accelerated time to market."

Jari Honko, an analyst at eQ Bank in Helsinki, said Nokia is "extremely driven" in its strategy to move into mobile services and called Navteq "the most significant player in its field."

"It makes a lot of sense," he said. "This is one of the areas that should become extremely important in the future. ... Nokia could very well build one of its core services around it."