Nokia is fanning the flames of speculation over the sale of its devices business to Microsoft, by grabbing €1.5 billion ($1.98 billion) of the purchase price up front.
The vendor plans to use the cash to prepay financing arranged to cover its €1.7 billion buyout of Siemens from Nokia Siemens.
Nokia is covering the advance by issuing three tranches of convertible bonds, which Microsoft will convert to shares and voting rights over the next seven years.
Nokia’s share price grew when it announced the €5.4 billion deal with Microsoft early last week, but the move prompted speculation it was pushed into selling by a shortage of cash.