Nokia sells HERE maps unit to German carmakers for $3.07 billion

A view of Nokia's annual general meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on May 5th, 2015.

/LEHTIKUVA/Roni Rekomaa

A consortium of German premium carmakers has agreed to buy Nokia's (NOK1V.HE) mapping business HERE for an enterprise value of 2.8 billion euros ($3.07 billion), in a push to extend the reach of automakers into digital services for connected cars. The Finnish mobile network equipment maker said it expects to receive net proceeds of 2.5 billion euros from a consortium made up of Daimler (DAIGn.DE) BMW (BMWG.DE) and Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) premium division Audi (NSUG.DE). The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.Intelligent mapping systems are the basis on which self-driving cars linked to wireless networks can perform intelligent functions such as recalculating a route if data about a traffic jam or an accident is transmitted to the car. In the future, such mapping systems will have a role to play in collision detection and other features of self-driving cars. (Reporting by Edward Taylor and Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Eric Auchard)