Private equity groups said to be interested in NSN stake

Two private equity groups are reported to have dropped out of the bidding to buy a stake in Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) after disagreements about the price and degree of control the investors would receive over the vendor.

Citing several people close to the situation, the Financial Times reported that there is now just one bidder left that might take a stake in the infrastructure vendor.

According to earlier reports, the parent companies – Nokia and Siemens – are not actively seeking a buyer.

Given that private equity groups, KKR and TPG have dropped out of bidding that leaves just Gores Group and Platinum Equity as a possible investor.

A spokesman said that both Nokia and Siemens are committed to the joint venture until 2013 – which is when the current agreement between the two companies expires.

Failure to sell a stake in the company before 2013 would put the future of the group in jeopardy.

Last July, it was reported that Silver Lake Partners, TPG, Blackstone, Bain Capital and KKR were in talks about taking a one-third stake in the company, which had at the time just agreed to the US$1.2 billion deal to buy Motorola’s networking assets.