Nokia sells Venyon stake to Giesecke & Devrient

The world's leading maker of mobile devices Nokia today said that secure applications provider Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has acquired its stake in mobile near field service manager Venyon Oy, becoming its sole shareholder. The firms did not disclose financial terms.

G&D held a majority stake before the acquisition. Since its creation in 2006, Venyon has established itself as one of the leading trusted service managers (TSM) on the mobile near field communication (NFC) market.
 
Near field communication combines smart card and contactless technologies for secure mobile phone applications. As a TSM, Venyon provides trusted services to provision and manage applications such as credit cards or transit tickets securely over the mobile network on the user's NFC-enabled mobile phone.

Nokia said Venyon was well positioned to provide aggregating TSM services between mobile network operators issuing near field communication-capable SIM cards and service providers such as transit companies and banks on the growing NFC market.

Karsten Ottenberg, CEO of Giesecke & Devrient, said that the move to acquire full ownership of Venyon would enable G&D to expand its position as a provider of secure mobile phone solutions - from SIM and secure microSD cards through software to the secure administration of critical applications on the mobile phone. 

Ottenberg also said, "The market for NFC solutions is expected to develop steadily. Venyon has built up leading service expertise in the NFC ecosystem, which will also be useful to us in other business sectors."

G&D estimates that the demand for near field communication services is increasing worldwide. With its industry-leading expertise combined with G&D's position in the SIM and secure applications market, Venyon is well positioned to provide TSM services to banks, transit operators, mobile network operators and other stakeholders planning to commercialise their NFC services.
 
Mark Selby, VP, Industry Collaborations, Nokia, said, "As the market for NFC is now maturing, the time is right for us to focus our efforts even more on NFC-enabled mobile devices and solutions designed to support NFC. We believe Venyon's crucial role as a trusted third party working with mobile operators and service providers is best supported through full ownership by Giesecke & Devrient, who are recognised experts in secure applications in this market."
 
Munich-headquartered technology provider, G&D generated sales of EUR 1.7 billion in fiscal 2008. Founded in 1852, G&D is a global market leader and pioneering innovator in banknote and banknote paper production and processing, smart card solutions for telecommunications and electronic payment, and security documents and identification systems.