There are suggestions that Nokia is ready to offload its luxury mobile phone subsidiary, Vertu. The reported price is 200 million euros.

The Finnish company asked Goldman Sachs several months ago to look into Vertu’s disposal. They appear to have managed to secure a deal with a private equity group called Permira. The news comes from an independent source, a spokesperson for which told knowyourmobile.com: “Unnamed sources say that Vertu’s suitor is private equity group Permira, which is invested in companies like Hugo Boss.”

Vertu is known for creating and selling some of the most expensive smartphones in the world. The price tag is in the region of £15,000 each if not more.

Interestingly, they all use Nokia’s proprietary operating system, Symbian. What’s more despite the high cost of purchase, the company do not tend to use the latest versions of the platform.

Some experts have apparently expressed surprise at the valuation of Vertu as being 200 million euros. They point to the fact that only the very rich could afford to spend the asking price of a Vertu smartphone.

That said, the actual price to be paid for Vertu is not written in stone. One analyst said: “People familiar with the process cautioned that the outcome of the sale was not yet certain.”

If you have never encountered a Vertu phone, the actual manufacturer is thought to be based in the UK and each one is hand built to the specifications of the buyer.