A group of German car makers with hopes of acquiring Nokia’s Here mapping business has recruited private equity firm General Atlantic to help it improve its offer.
According to sources cited by Reuters on Thursday, General Atlantic will take a 30% stake in the consortium, which until now consisted of Audi, BMW and Mercedes. One person said each car maker is prepared to pay up to €700 million for Nokia Here.
When news first emerged that Nokia had contacted potential suitors for Here, sources said the unit was worth €2 billion. Now, with buyers buddying up to boost their bids, it is expected that the eventual deal could be worth up to €3.2 billion.
"The upper limit is basically what it would cost to build the maps through other means, by partnering with another player or going it alone," said one of Reuters‘ sources on Thursday.
Nokia launched a strategic review of Here in mid-Apri, the same day it agreed to acquire rival network vendor Alcatel-Lucent in a deal worth &e uro;15.6 billion.
In addition to the German car consortium, taxi-booking app is also reportedly keen on acquiring Nokia Here and is being backed by Chinese search giant Baidu.
Sources cited in a recent Bloomberg report that Uber and Baidu have together joined forces with private equity firm Apax Partners to help them improve their offer.
