Telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson has completed the disinvestment of its 50 per cent stake in the mobile handset joint venture (JV), Sony Ericsson. The stake has been offloaded to Sony Corporation, the other JV partner. With this, Sony Ericsson, now, has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.
The mutually agreed cash consideration for the transaction stands at ?1.05 billion.
Sony Ericsson started its operations on October 1, 2001. By the end of the third quarter of 2011, Sony Ericsson held a market share of 11 per cent (by value) in the Android phone market.
During the ten years of its operation, Sony Ericsson has generated approximately ?1.5 billion of profit and paid total dividends of approximately ?1.9 billion to its parent companies.
