Huawei, investment fund to buy 3Com for $2B

Network equipment vendor 3Com has agreed to be acquired by Huawei and Bain Capital in a deal worth over $2 billion, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

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Huawei plans to take a minority stake in the company, with the lion's share to be held by the investment fund, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Such a move would not be the first time this year that investment funds have taken a major networking company private: enterprise telecommunications equipment vendor Avaya was bought by Silver Lake Partners and the Texas Pacific Group for $8.2 billion.

Other reports that 3Com was for sale had circulated earlier this year. Back in July, networking rival Nortel was reported also to have shown an interest in 3Com.

Huawei and 3Com are former joint venture partners. In 2003 they set up Huawei-3Com, an enterprise networking equipment company with headquarters in Hong Kong and factories in China. Last November, 3Com paid $882 million for Huawei's 49% stake in the venture, ending their alliance.

3Com reported financial results for the quarter to Aug. 31 last week. Sales for the quarter totaled $319 million, up 6% on a year earlier, but the company's net loss widened, to $18.7 million from $14.1 million a year earlier.

Representatives of 3Com reached for this story would not comment on the newspaper report.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.