Philips Electronics NV’s Philips Media NV subsidiary has increased its stake in Navigation Technologies Corp to give it a majority of the capital, although it still has only 35% of the voting rights; terms were not disclosed but the deal was for non-voting preference shares: NavTech, based in Sunnyvale, is mainly involved in research into digital street map databases for advanced transport applications – NavTech’s database is at the heart of in-vehicle route guidance systems and a number of companies are developing on-board route finders and NavTech’s information has been widely used, Philips said, adding that its investments in NavTech, are a step towards aligning the US company with its European counterpart European Geographic Technologies BV, which is based in Best, Netherlands – Philips and NavTech already have stakes in the latter, and other investors include Renault SA and the UK Automobile Association; the company is working on a pan-European navigable database and will use NavTech technology and NavTech will now have a majority in European Geographic and the two companies will operate under one management, Philips said.
