Nokia said to be interested in Juniper

Nokia is looking at a deal to buy US vendor Juniper Networks and merge it with NSN, according to German publication Manager Magazin Online.

Speculation is rife in the infrastructure market about the next stage of consolidation. NSN was linked to a deal at the end of last year with the recovering Alcatel-Lucent.

Talk has circulated particularly around NSN as it moves to the heart of the new Nokia, following the imminent sale of the group’s handset business to Microsoft.

And Nokia will have net cash of €7 billion (US$9.75 billion) to €8 billion on its balance sheet, following the Microsoft deal.

Manager Magazin Online said NSN’s CEO, Rajeev Suri, travelled to the US for talks with Juniper at the end of last year.

On the agenda was closer cooperation and a possible merger. Such a move would strengthen NSN in the US where historically it has been weak.

Juniper would cost US$13.7 billion, making it big for NSN to swallow –although the deal could be eased somewhat by Juniper’s US$3.1 billion cash reserves.

However, a deal is not thought to be imminent.