Nokia won an appeal in the Delhi High Court today to unfreeze the assets of its Chennai mobile phone factory, allowing the company to transfer it to Microsoft in its upcoming devices and services acquisition.
(Nokia hit with $3.4 billion tax on Indian factory)
Nokia lobbied to have the factory unfrozen by today in an effort to keep the Microsoft transfer on track and avoid operating as a subcontractor of the factory while the tax dispute played out. As a condition of the appeal, Nokia is depositing US$367 million in an escrow account to put toward its forthcoming tax liability imposed by the Indian government, which could total more than $3.4 billion.
This tax battle won’t affect the $7.4 billion Microsoft deal though, planned to be closed in the first quarter of 2014.
