US private equity firms Silver Lake and Providence Equity Partners have teamed up to bid for a majority stake in telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies’ mobile devices unit, a deal which could fetch US$2 billion, Reuters reported. Another private equity team seeking a majority stake in the unit is AEA Investors and General Atlantic, though these mid-sized firms would most likely have to bring in another partner. Silver Lake, AEA, Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs’s private equity group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co all made it through the first round of the Huawei auction. If priced at more than US$2 billion, the Huawei deal would be China’s fifth-largest cross-border inbound deal ever, and the largest so far this year.
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