Nokia rejects Juniper acquisition rumours

Telecoms giant was reported to be preparing a bid for networking vendor

Nokia has denied that it is preparing a bid for Juniper Networks, after reports surfaced yesterday.

CNBC reported that the Finnish telecoms firm was readying a $16bn (£11.9bn) offer for the California-based networking vendor, citing sources.

Nokia however released a statement directly contradicting the report, stating: "Nokia is not currently in talks with, nor is it preparing an offer for, Juniper Networks related to an acquisition of that company."

Before Nokia poured cold water on the rumours Wall Street had reacted favourability to the potential deal, with Juniper's share price rocketing over 22 per cent. Juniper current has a market cap of just over $11bn.

Juniper refused to comment on the speculation.

Despite being mostly known for its mobile handset brand, Nokia's roots are in telecoms infrastructure. In 2016 it reported revenue of over €20bn.

Last year the firm acquired Alacatel-Lucent for $16.6m to boost its manufacturing of mobile equipment, after offloading its mobile phone business to Microsoft in 2014.