Giesecke & Devrient has acquired Nokia’s shares in Venyon

Munich, Germany and Espoo, Finland - Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) and Nokia today announced that G&D has become the sole shareholder in Venyon Oy by acquiring the shares held by Nokia. G&D held a majority of the shares 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.

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

“This move to acquire full ownership of Venyon is another key milestone in G&D’s strategy. It will enable us to continue to expand our 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,” emphasized Karsten Ottenberg, CEO of Giesecke & Devrient. “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.”

“Nokia is proud to be a supporter and provide multiple enabling roles for NFC, one of them having been our investment in Venyon,” said Mark Selby, VP, Industry Collaborations, Nokia. “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 recognized experts in secure applications in this market.”

G&D estimates that the demand for NFC 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 commercialize their NFC services.