When Siemens' Communications division and Nokia's Network Business Group teamed up in 2006 to form the joint venture known as Nokia Siemens Networks (News - Alert) (NSN), the economy wasn't yet poised for its sharp downturn. That followed soon after, of course, and the troubled venture has been battling for relevance and profitability ever since. Last year, a $1 billion prop-up by its parent companies, Nokia and Siemens, failed to boost the company where it needed to go, and the venture is once again looking for help.

The good news (depending on your perspective) is that it's gotten some help.

NSN has reportedly raised more than 1.2 billion euros from a group of 14 European and U.S. banks: money it will use to restructure the business and pay costs of a big redundancy program, according to the Financial Times (News - Alert). While the company had initially hoped to raise as much as 1.5 billion euros, the state of the world economy shrunk the availability of cash, a FT source said. The banks involved include JPMorgan, Citibank, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered.

NSN has said it will not seek more money from its parents, reported Reuters (News - Alert). (Particularly as at least one of its parents, Nokia, is struggling to stay relevant itself in the face of escalating competition.) Nokia Siemens Networks was formed prior to the global economic slump with the intent of building the kind of scale that would give it a commanding presence in an increasingly crowded industry.

The Financial Times has reported that 600 million euros will be provided to NSN as a one-year term loan that would need to be replaced when it expires in the summer of 2013, with the remainder coming on a three-year term. An unnamed source told the Financial Times that NSN will try to raise money in the capital market by issuing bonds, which it hoped would be available before the one-year term of the debt is over.

Neither Nokia nor Siemens provided any comment on the matter, said Reuters.

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