Nokia aims to ease financial woes by selling Vertu brand for €200m

Finnish phone maker moves to reverse ailing financial fortunes

Nokia is in advanced talks to sell its UK subsidiary Vertu to private equity group Permira in order to raise cash as the firm faces an uncertain financial future, the Financial Times reports.

The FT reported on Sunday that Goldman Sachs has advised Nokia on the sale, citing a number of unnamed sources.

If the sale does go through Nokia will reportedly raise around €200m. However, the FT suggested that the deal has not been finalised.

At the time of publication Nokia had not responded to V3's request for clarification.

The news follows a slew of financial setbacks at the embattled mobile giant. Last week a number of credit agencies downgraded Nokia's rating, with Fitch listing it as junk and Moody's placing it as one step above junk.

The downgrade follows Nokia's confirmation that poor UK Lumia handset sales led to a disastrous €1.3bn loss in the last quarter, with the company also warning investors to expect lower figures than forecast for the second quarter too.

Nokia first indicated its intention to sell Vertu in December 2011 and Permira's interest would be in line with its tendency to by luxury brands. The private equity firm already has Hugo Boss and Valentino in its portfolio.

Virtu makes mobile phones that start at £35,000 with the highest price it has ever set topping £213,000 for its Signature Cobra handset.