The contest for Nokia's maps business HERE has become a three-way race between German carmakers, a consortium including Uber and Baidu, and a third group including China's Tencent and Navinfo, people familiar with the process have said. Analysts put HERE's potential value at €2 billion to €4 billion.
German automakers Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen's premium brand Audi are said to have teamed up with private equity firm General Atlantic to form what is being described as the "industry consortium".
It is believed another group consists of Chinese media, mobile and internet firm Tencent Holdings, Chinese map-maker Navinfo, and Swedish buyout firm EQT Partners. Private equity firm Apax has joined US-based taxi service Uber and China's Baidu in a third consortium. – (Bloomberg)