Osborne Clarke, Skadden bag Motorola-Nokia deal

Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office took the role of ­counsel to the seller on the UK aspects of the deal, with corporate partner David Ferris and employment partner Paul Killen leading. Corporate associate Richard Craven, pensions partner Paul Matthews and real estate lawyer Matthew Kendall also contributed.

A team from Skadden’s London office advised Nokia Siemens as lead counsel, with M&A partner Michal Berkner at the helm.

Partner Matthew Costigan at Winston & Strawn in Chicago was lead adviser to Motorola on US aspects of the deal, together with partner Oscar David. Baker & McKenzie partners Matthew Gemello and Veronika Albus handled the international side of the deal for Motorola.

The transaction had been delayed as a result of ­objections from Motorola’s partner Huawei Technologies over the transfer of business secrets to Nokia Siemens. It was approved by Chinese competition ­regulators last month following a settlement between Huawei and Motorola.

An initial $1.2bn deal had to be renegotiated to win the backing of the authorities. The new deal saw Motorola’s Global System for Mobile business excluded from the transaction, with the price revised accordingly.