German auto makers agree deal to buy Nokia HERE: sources

A view of Nokia's annual general meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on May 5th, 2015. REUTERS/LEHTIKUVA/Roni Rekomaa·Reuters
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By Edward Taylor

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A consortium of German premium carmakers has agreed a deal to buy Nokia's (NOK1V.HE) mapping business HERE, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

The consortium of Daimler (DAIGn.DE) BMW (BMWG.DE) and Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) premium division Audi (NSUG.DE), has agreed to pay close to 2.9 billion euros ($3.2 billion), one of the people said.

Daimler declined to comment while BMW, Audi and Nokia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nokia is shedding the maps business as it focuses on integrating its 15.6 billion-euro purchase of Alcatel Lucent (ALUA.PA), a deal that will create the world's second largest network equipment maker.

The Finnish company announced a strategic review of its navigation business in April, setting up an auction process that pitted Germany's premium automakers against Internet rivals from the United States and China, who have now pulled back.

(Additional reporting by Andreas Cremer, Eric Auchard and Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)

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