Nokia takes stake in Filtronic

FILTRONIC YESTERDAY unveiled a deal which will see Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone giant, take a 7.5 per cent shareholding in the electronics group. Filtronic is buying LK-Products, a supplier of components for mobile phone base stations and handsets, from Nokia in return for FIM350 (pounds 39.8m) in cash and 4 million Filtronic shares.

John Samuel, Filtronic's finance director, said the deal gave the group a much closer relationship with Nokia, one of its major customers. Shares in Filtronic, which is expected to carry out a placing and open offer of about 10 per cent of its equity to fund the deal, jumped 98.5p to 568.5p.