ICL & Nokia Form a Joint Venture
A New Company Established to Support Nokia Information
Management's E-Business Development
HELSINKI, Finland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 21, 2000--ICL and Nokia have formed a joint venture to further support Nokia Information Management's e-business development.
The new company, called Nice-business Solutions
Finland Oy, will start operating from the beginning of March 2000. Jouko Seppa, the head of ICL Finland's E-Business
Division, has been appointed managing director of the company.
The new company will focus on developing solutions and services for Nokia's e-business and customer relationship
management (CRM) needs.
Commenting on the agreement, Tarmo Ruosteenoja, Vice President of Nokia Information Management, said: ``Nokia is a world leader in its industry. The mission of Nice-business Solutions Finland Oy is to implement e-business and customer
relationship management solutions and services that support Nokia's strategy. Nokia chose ICL as its partner because of
the company's impressive track record in the e-business area. The arrangement also ensures that in addition to our own growing resources, we have the best expertise in the field at our service.'
Esa Tihila, Director of ICL's global e-business and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nice-business solutions Finland said: ``A joint venture with Nokia is a significant expansion to the existing co-operation between our two companies.
ICL is Europe's leader in e-business services and for us it is important to co-operate with market leaders in long
term partnerships. The agreement now signed will further enhance ICL's transition to become an all e-business company
over the next few years.'
The new company will be owned 66,5 per cent by ICL and 33,5 per cent by Nokia. During its first operating year,
Nice-business Solutions Finland Oy will employ about 200 persons, and substantial growth is expected during the following two years. At first, the company will establish business sites in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere.
About ICL
ICL is a global IT services company. It designs, builds and operates information systems and services for customers in the retail, finance, government, telecoms, utilities and travel markets. The company has operations in over 40 countries and employs over 22,000 people.
Today ICL improves business performance and competitiveness through services focused on electronic business, enterprise
applications and the implementation and outsourcing of IT infrastructure.
For the 12 months to 31 March 1999 the company's revenues were (pound)2.735 billion which generated a profit before
tax and exceptional charges of (pound)64.5 million. Headquartered in London, ICL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu and plans to float on the London Stock Exchange in 2000. www.icl.com |
