EU Reportedly Intensifying Probe Of Nokia/Navteq Deal

The European Commission, the regulatory arm of the European Union, is planning to deeper its investigation into Nokia’s (NOK) pending $8.1 billion acquisition of Navteq (NVT), according to Dow Jones Newswires, which cites “three people familiar with the deal.”

The concern, the story says, is shrinking competition in the market for GPS devices. The Commission is already conducting an in-depth probe of TomTom’s pending bid for Tele Atlas.

According to the DJ story, the concern is that the two deals together will hamper competition and drive up prices. The EC has a March 28 deadline to either clear the Nokia deal, launch a so-called “phase two” investigation or to simply delay its original deadline to consider possible concessions from Nokia.

Nokia today is up 18 cents at $32.45; Navteq is down 90 cents at $72.29.