Nokia Oyj comes closer to pointing out new CEO

Nokia Oyj, which is currently searching for a worthy successor to the former Chief Executive Officer – Stephen Elop, seems to be more focused on considering insiders for the position, including Rajeev Suri, people with knowledge of the matter revealed. The company has however also considered external candidates. Nokia is said to be more likely to name its new Chief Executive after the phone-division sale is brought to an end, which is expected to happen this quarter.

At the moment Rajeev Suri is the head of Nokias network-equipment unit. The people familiar with these issues, who asked not to be named because the discussions in question are confidential, said that Mr. Suri is one of the applicants for the job. One of the other applicants considered for the CEO position, is current Finance Chief Timo Ihamuotila.

The new head of the company is expected to do everything in his strength in order to bring a new life to Nokia. The company is also considered to start fresh without a business it used to rely on, thanks to the fact that Mr. Elop helped finalizing the sale of Nokias handset unit to Microsoft Corp. The deal is estimated at 7.4 billion dollars.

Mika Heikkinen, who works for FIM Asset Management Ltd. Said: “Nokia selling its phone business is a historic move and crafting its future strategy and picking its next leader will be critical for its future success. The board has one chance to get this right.”

Teemy Peraelae, who is working at Alfred Berg Asset Management said that Nokia Solutions and Networks, which is the network business of the company and is vital to its overall strategy, is expected to be currently headed by Mr. Suri. This is how Nokia would become mainly a manufacturer competing with Ericsson AB and Huawei Technologies Co. in selling network gear such as base stations and antennas to carriers.

The company is forecast to remain with two divisions – its digital-maps business and its advanced-technologies unit, which takes of Nokias patents. There is another option for Nokia – to keep three divisions as equal units with leaders reporting to the Chief Executive Officer of the company. The divisions in questions are NSN, maps and advanced technologies.

Such a decision would not only provide Nokia with a structure similar to a holding company, but would also be an indicator that the company is not only focused in being just a network-gear maker.

Nokias shares settled at EUR5.8250 on Friday, down 0.60%, and its one-year return rate is up 75.88%.