Nokia falls on Hutchison financing deal
HELSINKI, April 2 (Reuters) - Shares in Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia (NOK1V.HEL) fell on Monday after the firm said it would help bankroll the building of Hutchison Whampoa's British third-generation (3G) mobile network.
At 0943 GMT Nokia, which was flat before the financing news surfaced, traded down 2.2 percent at 26.60 euros, knocking the HEX general index lower. The share underperformed the Dow Jones tech index and Swedish peer Ericsson (LME-B.STO).
Nokia said earlier it had won a 3G network deal with Hutchison worth 500 million euros ($438.6 million), but added it would provide bridge financing totalling some 460 million pounds ($651.9 million).
The assistance was part of a financing package for Hutchison totalling some 3.6 billion pounds.
"(Nokia's) financing arrangement clearly exceeds the value of the deal, so the stock is falling," one broker said.
Nokia has previously said it will be among the most conservative of the telecom equipment makers in funding operators which have spent billions of dollars on 3G licences and face billions more in expenses for rolling out the networks.
The firm, the world's top mobile phone maker, has said it believes it can become the world's number-one supplier of high-speed third-generation networks, beating a field including Ericsson and Canada's Nortel .
Nokia on Monday also won a 3G deal with Australian Cable & Wireless Optus worth $437 million.
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