Rumors circulated all summer about possible suitors for networking pioneer 3Com, and though Nortel Networks was the potential buyer most often mentioned, China's Huawei Technologies certainly has been considered in the mix. Now, 3Com is being purchased by Huawei and Bain Capital for $2.2 billion.
This looks like yet another leveraged buyout teaming a telecom company with a private equity firm. It will be interesting to see what that means for how 3Com continues to be operated, and to what degree its technologies will be integrated with Huawei's. Who said the LBO resurgence had run its course?
For more:
- Here's the breaking story in The New York Times